My thanks to Net Galley and MacMillan audio for a chance review this .

Liv Reese wakes up in a cab with no memory of how she got there. Somehow Detective Halliday believes she is tied to a murder recently committed. Liv is a chronic insomniac with messages written over her hand.

Good thriller and narrative. I was a little confused jumping back and forth between perspectives bur not a bad listen.

This story is 🤯🤯🤯. I have said a thousand times how sick I am of the unreliable narrator trope. But let me just tell you, THIS IS HOW YOU DO AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR TROPE. Megan Goldin killed it with this story!! I am so impressed by her writing and story telling skills. Stay Awake is about a woman who woke up in the back of a cab with no clue who she is or how she ended up there. That’s all I’m going to say because I recommend going into this one as blind as possible. You will be blown away! 4.5 stars from me! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. You can grab this one in stores on August 9th, but trust me, you’re going to want to preorder! The narration in this one was also fantastic, so if you’re looking for a new audiobook, grab Stay Awake!

This audio was so good. I honestly couldn't put it down; I think I finished it in a day. Goldin really knows how to write a twisty little book and I am here for it!! I loved the narrator, she read the book in such a way that it played like a movie in my head. It was easy to keep track of characters. Simply perfect!

Liv Reese wakes up in a cab with no memory of how she got there and in her pocket finds a knife streaked with blood. Every time Liv falls asleep she forgets what happened the day before. Meanwhile, Detective Darcy Halliday is trying to solve the murder of a man stabbed in an apartment. On the wall "stay awake" is written in his own blood, the same phrase written on Liv's arm. Running between these two timelines are flashbacks to before Liv started losing her memory.

I have read Megan Goldin's last few books and this is my favorite book of hers that I have read. She easily navigates what could become a very complex and unwieldy plot and keeps the tension high throughout. The characters were fleshed out well, with a lot of chapters giving good insight into their backgrounds and personality so you care about them more as the book moves into its dramatic conclusion. If you've read Before I Go To Sleep, its the same kind of memory loss experienced by the protagonist, but Goldin does some exciting things with it that makes it unique enough compared to that book. There were a lot of twists and Goldin does a fantastic job of holding off on revealing information to ratchet up the tension. Towards the end of the book I had a great time putting all of the pieces together from earlier chapters. A great thriller that I highly recommend to thriller fans.

The audiobook had two different narrators for Liv Reese and for Detective Darcy Halliday, which made for a nice contrast between the two sides of the story (though I will say the narrator for Liv Reese read veeeery slowly, even while I had it at 1.5x speed. There was a lot of performance behind the story). The audiobook was well produced and easy to listen to.

Liv Reese wakes up in a cab with no clue how she got there, what day — or even year — it is, and with a bloody knife in her pocket. As it turns out, every time Liv falls asleep — overnight or a quick nap — she forgets the past two years of her life. As unsettling as that is, Liv keeps seeing news reports on a gruesome murder where a man was killed and the killer wrote "STAY AWAKE" on the window, a familiar phrase to Liv, since its written on her own arm. Detective Darcy Halliday is assigned to the case and is determined to get to the bottom of what actually happened last night as if her job depends on it — because it does.

I've loved both books I've read by Megan Goldin — The Night Swim and The Escape Room — but this one is by far my favorite. Ultra creepy and super fast-paced — takes place within 24 hours! — this book hooked and consumed me. Having a protagonist who forgets the past 2 years every time she nods off could get kind of repetitive, but I think the author navigated that well enough.

I was lucky enough to have the audio version of the ARC too, which was great because I never wanted the book to stop! But... I couldn't do it. The narrator for Halliday was great, but for Liv, it was atrocious. Way too overacted. Sorry, had to say it. I'm not even that picky when it comes to audiobooks!

Read if... Final Girls is your favorite Riley Sager and you love crime procedural shows.

A very compelling story. I stayed up late and listened straight through.

Liv & Amy are best friends & roommates. Liv is dating Marco & Amy is dating Bret.

The story begins with Liv waking up in a cab having no idea how she got there. She is completely baffled. The last thing she remembers is taking a call at work on a summer day, it’s now late fall over 2 years later & there’s a bloody knife in her pocket.

Each time Liv falls asleep she loses this past 2 years. This makes the plot move slowly but the story evolving from 2 years ago is just as entertaining.

The chapters consist of two timelines aiming to merge & multiple points of view. This really helps flesh out the story & characters. We are introduced to a couple more characters including the police officers tasked with solving a murder that occurred shortly before Liv woke up in the cab, with the bloody knife.

Fun entertaining thriller. Good narration.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio!

Highly recommend if you enjoy your thrillers, thrilling.

I wasn't as crazy about this one as I wanted to be. While I enjoyed the set up at first it's slowly began to become too repetitive and I was tired of the same thing. It began to make me contemplate if this was realistic or believable that this could happen. Maybe it my lack of knowledge of the subject, but once that thought emerged I couldn't seem to shake it. While this set up was interesting it was just okay for me.

This was fantastic. It was repetitive at the beginning but I finally caught on that it was two time lines. I love it! This was as good as The Night Swim!! I cannot imagine having amnesia.

I loved the book's premise of falling asleep and waking with no memories. It instantly drew me in and kept me guessing throughout.

The story is told in dual timelines, with Liv splitting her narrative between past and present and Detective Halliday’s perspective in the present day. I found both timelines to be easy to follow. Usually, with dual timelines, I prefer one timeline over the other, but not here. I equally enjoyed both and felt the author did a great job moving the plot along and keeping me hooked.

I connected to Liv and Detective Halliday and was rooting for them both. The length of the story was spot on. There was no excess fluff to slow down the story. And no unnecessary excess characters to keep track of.

I alternated between reading a digital copy and listening to the audiobook. Narrators Imogen Church and January LaVoy, did a fantastic job at bringing this story to life. They made it very easy to distinguish between the characters and added to the overall suspense of the book.

I devoured this book in almost one sitting and was sad when it came to a close. The ending wrapped up really well.

I can’t wait to see what this author has in store for us next.

If you’re looking for you’re next page-turner, or beach read, look no further.

Megan Goldin’s latest is filled with vivid descriptions and takes place at a breakneck speed. The protagonist loses her memory every time that she falls asleep, making it impossible for her to solve the mystery of who killed her two friends. The imagery was evocative to the point of making me feel claustrophobic at times. It was like living a literal nightmare over and over and Goldin portrays the franticness and anxiety so well. I listened to this on audio and felt that the narrator successfully conveyed the intensity of the plot with relish. Unfortunately I feel like this plot line has been done a few times before so I didn’t rate it higher. It is definitely well-written and we’ll-narrated. and will appeal to fans looking for a fast-paced and intense psychological thriller.

4 stars

After really enjoying Goldin's _The Night Swim_, I was thrilled to get my hands on Goldin's latest, and my incoming high expectations were met.

Liv, the m.c., has a disturbing situation happening. Every time she falls asleep, she forgets...EVERYTHING. The "STAY AWAKE" note she has written on herself only works for so long, and she participates in this note taking and clue collecting behavior nonstop. As anyone can imagine, it's incredibly frustrating for Liv - though, to Goldin's credit, compelling instead for readers - that Liv is existing in a losing game of more chutes than ladders. Goldin keeps what could have been a really repetitive and frustrating convention fresh by dipping in and out of multiple timelines: the present and two years ago, which is just exactly when Liv thinks she's existing each time she awakens with a reset.

Some thrillers are so out there that it's hard to connect to any of the characters, and while fortunately Liv's predicament isn't exactly common, Goldin writes this situation in a way that makes Liv seem extremely relatable and sympathetic. Even if she is a monster, she has no memory of it. Couldn't any of us find ourselves in this exact spot? As one character suggests in a spoiler-free way at some stage, we mostly think people don't seem like killers...until they kill. There's a lot of good content like this that helps readers stay interested and keep guessing.

One of the parts of Goldin's last novel that I loved most is the freshness of the material. While I did find myself a little frustrated by the unavoidable comparisons to aspects of _Memento_ at times here, I really enjoyed this overall and expect that most lovers of thrillers/mysteries will enjoy this read, too.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book so much while also having absolutely no idea what was happening most of the time. Liv forgets everything from her recent past every time she falls asleep. She compulsively writes messages to herself on her skin to give her memory-wiped self some instruction. She's pretty sure she was somehow involved with a murder and doesn't know who she can trust. I'm not usually a fan of unreliable narrators, but it works with this particular storyline.

This isn't a smooth, easy read. Because Liv keeps waking up with memory loss, there is a lot of repetition in the writing. Because the POV shifts from Liv in the past - to current Liv in different states of memory loss - to the detective on the murder case - there are a lot of jarring shifts. For some this will be a bug, but for some it's a feature. For me, the repetition and jumping around added to the general vibe of Liv's wild, unpredictable experience...but I can see how this will not work for all readers.

This book will be available in early August. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advance listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

Ahh this was so good. I started this and didn’t want to put it down because I needed to know what was going on.⁣
⁣
This story is split into different time lines until the very end. It’s good from Liv and Halliday’s points of view. ⁣
⁣
This was filled with tension and suspense I was on the edge of my seat just waiting to figure out what happened. Liv suffers from amnesia and insomnia; every time she falls asleep she forgets everything from the day before; which makes it difficult to know where she was when someone who was close to her, that she doesn’t even remember ends up dead. ⁣
⁣
Liv is kind of unreliable and a disaster, but she’s actually really likable and I really felt for her and the confusion she must’ve felt. This was such a page turner and one of the better thrillers I’ve read in a while! The ending is intense and so good and surprising too!⁣
⁣
I also listened to the narration and read in between and the narration was really well done and made you feel even more on edge at times.⁣ I loved this narrator !
⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was fantastic. Megan Goldin created such an original story that I wish could be made into a movie or TV show (maybe one day?!).

Stay Awake follows Liv, who wakes up not remembering the past two years. Every time she falls asleep, she forgets anything that has happened the day before. Someone is murdered and her prints are found at the scene but she fell asleep and can’t remember anything. She can’t remember where she was, who she was with, or who the victim was.

She tries to back pedal and figure out what happened the day before to clear her name.

It was a little predictable, but I did enjoy the time jump from before the amnesia to present day after the murder.

I also started to get Gone Girl/Girl on the Train vibes. Do we trust the main character or are we, the reader, being played?

I highly recommend this book! Not your typical murder mystery book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Liv Reese wakes up each day not knowing where she is or how she got there. It is as if, her brain has reset overnight. When she is dropped off at the brownstone where she used to live, she learns that someone else lives there and that they are not happy with her showing up thinking she lives there. Her phone is missing but what is not missing are the messages she has written on her hands. A prominent message telling her to STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, writing for a trendy magazine, and dating. What happened between then and the present day? Live wants to know, if only she can stay awake and find out! Plus, why are strange and upsetting things happening around her?

Detective Darcy Halliday and Detective Jack Lavelle have been called to the scene of a murder. A message has been left written in the victim's blood - STAY AWAKE

The synopsis was not kidding when it said this book would give Memento vibes. I was trying to figure out what was going on right along with Liv. This was such a clever, engaging, and gripping book. I really felt for LIV and her constant unease about not knowing who she could trust, not knowing what happened to her, and not knowing what happened to her friend. As she desperately tries to find the

This was an incredibly entertaining and dramatic read which I enjoyed from beginning to end! I had the privilege of having both the book and the audiobook so I could go back and forth between the two. You can't go wrong with either! Nor can you go wrong with this book.

This is clever, tense, and gripping.

STAY AWAKE you don't want to miss this book!


Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Woowoo. This is a fun, fast-paced, page-turning mystery that puts the main protagonist, Liv, at the center of two murders. But, with a major complication. She has amnesia and every time she wakes up, it's groundhogs day.

I listened to the audio and very much enjoyed the two female narrators who use just the right amount of dramatic effect to keep things suspenseful and interesting.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of the audiobook via the NetGalley app.

I have been on a major amnesia kick lately but all of the books with this troupe have been great!

STAY AWAKE! I had no problem staying awake for this book! It was a great whodunnit murder mystery/police procedural! It reminds me of 50 first dates with major twists of psychological thriller! I flew through this book in a matter of 2 days! All of the amnesia, gaslighting, and secrets lead to a roller coaster of a book! While there was some repetitive parts with Liv forgetting everything every time she fell asleep, I still loved this book! I felt exhausted by the end of the book, just as Liv did throughout.

With two POV and nonlinear timeline, it added the much needed complexity to the amnesia troupe! This was my first book by Megan Golding and it will not be my last! I listened to this as an audiobook and I loved the narrators! They really make it all come alive!

***** Many thanks to St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, Megan Golding, and NetGalley for the gifted copy as it was provided to me in turn for my honest opinion.

This was so different from what I expected. This psychological thriller is so unique in that I've never seen a storyline quite like it. The POV jumps between the past and present where the main character continuously loses her memory every time she falls asleep. This was fast paced and full of intrigue. It kept me guessing until the very end and gives almost no clues to who the real murderer could be until its actually revealed. Megan Goldin does a great job of keeping the reader in the dark along with the main character. The ending was very fitting in my opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced amnesia thriller that is told in alternating timelines and also incorporates a third POV (the detectives trying to solve the main crime). Goldin is excellent at writing engaging, suspenseful reads, and this was no exception. Liv’s increasing self-doubt and devolving mental state was well-written, especially since the present timeline took place over the course of one day and was time stamped. My main critique was regarding the ending. There were lose ends that were not resolved, and the motives of the murderer are left unclear.
Note: while the audiobook was good, it didn’t get a little difficult, at times, to keep track of the 3 POVs (especially whether it was past or present Liv).

I absolutely loved this book! I loved guessing and guessing what might happen next and why can’t she remember and why cant she sleep? Such good writing a five star thriller!