The idea behind was interesting, but I'm sorry to say the execution didn't work for me. A big part of this was the narrator for Liv's POV chapters. I don't think she was the right fit for the character and I couldn't wait until she was finished speaking. She was overly dramatic where she shouldn't have been, and made it very difficult to connect with Liv as a character.
The book seemed to have no resolution at the end, and ended rather abruptly. I really enjoyed Megan's other book, so I might check out her others, but this wasn't interesting enough for me to recommend to others. I am glad I was given the opportunity to review it, and I think you for that!

This was the first book by Megan Goldin for me and I really enjoyed it! I will say I typically don’t like books with the whole “groundhog day” effect but this one didn’t bother me. The multiple POVs between Liv and the detective, plus the flashbacks from 2 years prior broke up the repetitiveness. I also listened to this on audio vs reading it, which I definitely recommend because the narrations were on point. I will say the ending kind of fell flat but the overall storyline was an intriguing read for me that I wasn’t disappointed.

Thank you for the ARC MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook to review!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me an early copy of this book.

It was honestly a creepy thriller although a bit unrealistic I was thoroughly entertained.
The only thing I was a bit bothered by was when the main character Liv kept waking up and was continuously astonished by the writings on her hands and arms telling her to STAY AWAKE! Although this was fine in the first few chapters it got awfully repetitive.

The suspense was fun to read, and i genuinely enjoyed this book!

I will say I feel like I have read this story many times before. There are many books and movies like it but even with that being said the book was still a good read. Liv woke up in the back of a taxi and asked to be taken to her apartment She arrives to find other people living there and they stated they get junk mail for her roommate that lived with her at the time. She doesn't know what is going on and she proceeds to find a knife with blood on it in her coat pocket. A person is found dead and now she is spending her time trying to determine if she was the one who committed the murder. The big hurdle she faces is she cannot remember anything once she falls asleep so she has left herself messages. She finds written on her hands STAY AWAKE, along with other messages for herself. the book follows her journey to stay awake and alive. I listened to the audio book thanks to NetGalley sending me an advanced copy. The reading pace was good and the narrator was good as well. I did like the book overall and would still recommend reading or listening to it.

Thank you netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC! It was a great audiobook filled with so much suspense! An unreliable character is one of my least favorite things, but this one felt like it worked! I like dual timelines while working through a thriller and this gave you 3 different timelines, with a MC with a spotty memory! It truly kept me guessing until the end!

This book had my attention from the very beginning. Liv Reese has a strange form of amnesia and forgets everything if she falls asleep! She doesn't remember her friend and boyfriend were murdered years ago, that she had a stalker, that her whole life has changed and she is on the run! The narration was great and I could not stop listening to figure out what happened.

Stay Awake is the first book by Megan Golding that I've had the pleasure of reading. For those of you who have watched the movie Memento, the concept of this book is similar.

We are following our main character Liv who has a weird form of amnesia that causes her to forgot all of her fresh memories as soon as she falls asleep. When Liv awakens her earliest memory is from two years prior. Stranded in New York City and alone, Liv is forced to figure out what happened in her past while danger looms around the corner. Not only does Liv become entangled in a murder investigation, she's also being followed, all the while not knowing whom she can trust.

The narrative is split between several timelines. We follow Liv in the present as she comes to learn about her condition and in the past leading up to the event that caused her trauma and memory issues. The plot is also told in alternating POVs - Liv and detective Halladay.

I absolutely loved Stay Awake. As a lover of unreliable narrators I ate this up. It was riveting, fast-paced and the alternating POVs and timelines kept you guessing at every turn. I do have to say i found the beginning 20% of the book a little slow but it really starts to pick up speed. I really enjoyed my time reading Stay Awake. It was such a fun book to read. I read it in 2 days after being in a massive reading slump.

I for the most part equally enjoyed both POVs. There is something about reading from a detective's POV that just gets me and it was done incredible well in Stay Awake. Our main detective was thorough, competent, smart, empathetic and made believable and realistic choices. I hope we get more of detective Halladay and her partner (whose name I forgot sorry i listened to this on audio).

I also liked how the author touched on some themes surrounding women not being believe or taken seriously when they are being stalked.


I'll be picking up other works by this author !

Megan Goldin returns with her third psychological thriller following The Night Swim (2020) and The Escape Room (2019)—STAY AWAKE.

An intense, propulsive tale of a woman who has lost her memory. A killer she doesn't remember meeting. A murder she doesn't remember committing.

Liv Reese finds herself in a cab in Manhattan. There are handwritten messages above her knuckles: STAY AWAKE. Above this she finds and name and address, Nocturnal. A bar.

With no keys, phone, or wallet, and then upon arrival at her apartment there are strangers. A bloody knife in her pocket. Then she wakes up on a park bench. Nothing is as it appears.

She also has the words WAKE UP. The bartender tells her she is afraid of what she does in her sleep.

DON'T SLEEP. I FORGET EVERYTHING WHEN I FALL ASLEEP. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR. DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE,

A news report airs a murder where the killer wrote WAKE UP on a window in blood. Could she have done this?

She attempts to leave notes for herself. She tries staying awake but her ongoing lack of sleep only amplifies the amnesia.

In addition to her apparent issues, Liv ends up a suspect in a murder of a man that she has no recollection of knowing. There's a knife in her pocket, surveillance of her coming out of the building, and a note she wrote to herself tells her not to trust the police.

Frantic, she begins her search for the truth. The author alternates between the present with NYPD Detective Darcy Halliday and the investigation with flashbacks of two years earlier.

Liv Reese was a journalist for Cultura Magazine in New York City and shares an apartment with her best friend Amy Decker, who is a doctor. They are dating two guys Marco, an ex-lawyer, and Amy's boyfriend Brett another doctor.

What happened to her life? Two years had passed, and she remembers none of it. Someone wants her to forget, not just after she sleeps, but to forget permanently.

In the vein of Before I Go to Sleep, Memento, and 50 First Dates, the author cleverly unwinds the events both complicated and compellingly hypnotic.

Fast-paced, twisty, and multi-layered with cliffhanger chapter endings, I alternated between the digital e-book and the audiobook. The audiobook was INTENSE and often over-the-top dramatic by Imogen Church (Liv). A lot of writing was repetitive due to the nature of the story. I enjoyed January LaVoy (also a favorite) and her narration of Halliday.

A special thank you to #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio for an advanced reading copy and audiobook.

Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: ✨✨✨✨
Pub Date: Aug 9, 2022
Aug 2022 Must-Read Books

I found this book to be highly entertaining. It kept me on my toes and guessing the whole way.

At times it could be a bit repetitive but I feel it worked with the story considering the memory loss.

I enjoyed Stay Awake very much and would recommend it.

I am absolutely obsessed with this novel! I’m still thinking about it. It’s been a minute since I’ve read a thriller I couldn’t put down but this was finally it! Will definitely recommend to everyone I know!

**NetGalley Review**

This would be a book version of 50 First Dates, with a very sinister and creepy twist. I can't imagine forgetting two years of time every time I fall asleep, but that is Liv's reality. Everyone she has met in that two year time, is forgotten. Everything that happened, is forgotten. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved the change in time from two years ago, to the present. This book had an amazing way of unraveling all of the details just when you needed them. Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Megan Goldin for allowing me to review this book!

One thing I love about Megan Goldin is how different each of her books are. Each tells a fresh story in an interesting way.

Stay Awake opens with Liv waking up in a taxi cab not remember anything, when she shows up at her apartment she discovers strangers live there and two years have passed since her last memory. There’s a note on her hand that says “Stay Awake”. Liv begins to piece together the missing years and discovers she’s in danger and has no way of knowing who is after her.

The danger is palpable. It would be immensely disorienting and horrifying to be robbed of short term memory. To be trapped two years in the past. To be stalked by someone who remembers you, but you can’t remember them.
This is an intensely propulsive read that had me staying up late to finish it. The narrator's urgency makes the audio a little too nerve racking and intense, but it fits the mood of the novel.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 🔪

𝒫𝓊𝒷 𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒: August 9th 2022
𝒜𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇: @megangoldinauthor
𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒: Mystery/Thriller

𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:

Stay Awake is an exciting thriller about a woman with a rare form of amnesia that puts her in the center of a murder investigation.

The book toggles back and forth between the past and the present. We get to know Liv (protagonist), her boyfriend Marco, the infamous Nocturnal 🥃 bar, her roommate Amy, and a bit about her job writing for a culture magazine.

WHAT A WILD RIDE!

This book had me racing to get to the end to connect the dots. Overall, this was a quick, page turning and exciting ride. I wasn’t expecting The WHO DONE IT so well done @megangoldinauthor

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁: 🔪🩸✍️
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 - 𝗜𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗕𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝘁

Thank you @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for the advanced audio of #stayawake #netgalley #macmillanaudio

I love this type of thriller where I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I have an inkling of an idea and I have to keep reading to find out how all these clues come together. This was my first Megan Goldin thriller and won't be my last! I really enjoyed he writing style and the clever way she wrapped up the mystery. This novel was so much fun and the audiobook narrator did an excellent job bringing this story to life.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi that’s taking her to her apartment. She doesn’t know how he got there but when she tries to get in, a stranger opens the door and tells her she doesn’t live there. Her hands and arms are covered in written messages that say things like “Stay Awake” and “trust no one.” She finds a bloody knife in her pocket and then she realizes that the last thing she remembers was 2 years ago.

Strangers talk to her like they know her and her friends are nowhere to be found. While trying to understand what’s happening, she sees on the news that someone was killed and that the murderer left a message written in blood that also says “Stay Awake.” Could this be a coincidence?

The story alternates between two timelines (2 years ago and the present) and two POVs (Liv and Detective Darcy Halliday’s perspectives). The three storylines are action-packed and intriguing. The story's pace is fast, with many plot turns and twists and the suspense is very well maintained from beginning to end. I love unreliable narrators and Liv’s memory issues and the uncertainty of what’s happening make this book even more exhilarating and unputdownable!

The audiobook is narrated by Imogen Church and January LaVoy and they both did an amazing job. Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the review copy of this exciting book! This was my second book by Megan Goldin and I can't wait can't wait to read whatever she writes next!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

"Don't tell me you fell asleep and forgot everything again."

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi in NYC, unsure of how she got there, who she is, or why she has a bloodstained knife. The only clue she has as to what's going on is the message written on her hands: STAY AWAKE.

Wheeeeew!! Stay Awake was super creepy and I LOVED IT. I'm a huge fan of the movie Memento, and this book was very reminiscent of that movie. I loved Liv as an unreliable narrator, constantly falling asleep and then waking up without memories. This was really well-written, as we start in the present and work our way back to the event that triggered it all two years ago, while also revealing the killer in present time. If you're looking for a really atmospheric, suspenseful, and fast-paced thriller, this is the one to pick up!

This is fantastically narrated by Imogen Church and January LaVoy, and I highly recommend the audiobook exprience!

Megan Goldin is quickly becoming a go-to thriller writer for me. In her latest, a murder witness has amnesia and can’t remember anything once she falls asleep.

Now, Liv’s wanted for murder and she must work as hard as she can to prove her innocence before the real murderer catches up with her… if only she could remember who the murderer is!

This reminded me of Memento in all the best ways. It got a little repetitive at certain times because as the narrator, we needed to rediscover information alongside Liv. But overall, I was really into the story.

Overall, I really like the concept of this book and I would recommend it to other readers. The suspenseful twists and turns of the plot kept me hooked the entire time! However, I did find some of the writing a little redundant every time the main character wakes up to find herself without memories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

Holy smokes this blew me away...right up until the very end. Then it fell flat. Seriously the only flaw for me is why the original murders? I feel like more explanation would have made the whole book make more sense. Overall the ride of this book was still amazing.

This story reminded me of a thriller / murder mystery version of 50 first dates. Liv Reese doesn't remember where she is or what is happening every time she wakes up from sleep. She soon finds out that she is being investigated as part of a murder, which she knows nothing about, or at least she cannot remember.

Unfortunately I just found this story to be too repetitive for me. I understand it has to be sort of repetitive when the main character literally has to relearn everything every time she wakes up, but it just seemed to drag on and I felt bored at times throughout the story. There were definitely lines that were just copied and pasted in the story and they were definitely noticeable. That being said, it was a fun read at times, very mild darkness, no huge scare factor and the plot twists were okay. I definitely enjoyed 'The Night Swim' by this author more!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advanced E-Book copy in exchange for an honest review!

Out August 9th, 2022