⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝘼 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘼 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙈𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮.

I went into this one nervous - I loved The Night Swim, but not so much The Escape Room - thankfully I really enjoyed this one. I was instantly intrigued from page one and the story just kept getting better as I read more.

In Stay Awake, we follow Liz Reese - who wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea how she got there. When she arrives at her home she's met with a stranger who now lives in her apartment. Confused, she tries to pull out her phone to call for help but is met with a bloodstained knife in the place where her phone was. She then discovers that her hands are marked with black ink that leaves a message saying STAY AWAKE.

I love that we get flashbacks. For example, we also follow Liv’s previous life two years ago - where she lives with her best friend and is dating a man. She’s a successful writer for a magazine. However, in the present, she has no idea what’s going on.

I really clicked with this story and found myself flying through it. I really enjoyed the way the story was written and that ending wasn’t something I had predicted. Some detectives are also trying to piece together some recent murders that are happening, and the connection between them and STAY AWAKE had me so intrigued. I didn’t know whether Liz was responsible or not. This was a great thriller I found myself entertained by. I would definitely recommend this to all thriller lovers.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy - all thoughts are my own!

I started listening to this book as a audiobook, but the narrator’s voice was so calm and soothing that I kept falling asleep, forgetting what was happening in the book, and having to listen multiple times. Since I liked the premise of the book and enjoyed the parts that I remembered being read to me, I got a hard copy of the book and started it from the beginning. I enjoyed the book so much, I finished it over the course of two days. The book’s main character has a condition that causes her to forget everything that occurred the last two years if she falls asleep. This time, she wakes up and finds that she is being accused of a murder. The book jumps around quite a bit with the narrator as well as now versus two years ago. Another intriguing read by Megan Goldin.

An unreliable narrator is always an enjoyable read for me, and this was no different. I felt this book wasn’t as strong as the last book I read by this author, so it was a bit of a let down. However, there was tension and compelling characters that kept me tuning in to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced reader copy.

Ok, real talk....I didn't love this book. All signs pointed to me loving it because I love Before I Go To Sleep and The Flight Attendant. Even while reading it, I was asking myself why I didn't love it. All I can come up with is the jarring switching back and forth in time along with the gratuitous repetition of things. I kept realizing that I had been reading for an hour and not really retaining any of the book. I think a huge factor, in hindsight, was that I didn't find Liv to be a fleshed-out character....which was likely done on purpose. No matter the reason for it, it kept me at arm's length from the plot. I loved The Night Swim, by this author, and I will definitely pick up more of her work to give it a try, but this one just didn't "wow" me.

The narration was fine, but nothing remarkable. I struggled with deciding if the narration was a reason that I didn't get invested in the book. It certainly contributed, but can't be held responsible for all of the issues. It is true that the narration didn't add to the story, through voices or media representation. By that, I mean that when people are on the phone, it didn't sound like they were on the phone, etc. I've really enjoyed books that do that, and that might have helped keep the multiple perspectives in this book more interesting.

Stay Awake!! Liv Reese must stay awake or she will forget everything. A murder thriller/mystery which makes the reader feel as involved as much as Liv. Megan Goldin writes a great thriller that keeps you wanting to read. You feel as though you are just as frustrated as Liv is when she wakes up not knowing what is going on. I really enjoyed this one. I had the "twist" figured out pretty early on, but still wanted to know how everything was executed.

*Thank you @stmartinspress for the egalley and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.*

I have really enjoyed Megan Goden’s thrillers and this one did not disappoint!

Synopsis
Liv Reese can’t remember anything each time after she wakes up, that's why she is doing her best to stay awake. Especially after waking up in a taxi with the words Stay Awake written on her hands. When she arrives at her brownstone she finds strangers living there that threaten to call the police if she doesn’t leave. With everything she’s been through recently, not remembering might not be the worst thing. As she tries to recover her memories she learns the truth about her boyfriend Marco and her roommate, Amy. The police suspect her of murder but the real murderer is tracking Liv. It’s only a matter of time before Liv is able to put the missing pieces of her life together but will it be too late?

My thoughts:

Talk about your unreliable narrator, this one really had me guessing and on the edge of my seat. The pacing was excellent and I didn’t want to put this one down. I really liked the female detective as well. I hope she returns in another of Godon’s books. This one really plays up the ides of the role memory takes on with murder and how much insomnia can effect our mental state.

I enjoyed this book. I previously read Night Swim by this author that I also enjoyed but had issues with some of the locale inconsistencies or utter wrong description of locale. I listened to the audiobook version and felt the narration kept me entertained. I liked the plot and the story itself! Several times I found myself done with a task but wanted to listen to one more chapter before putting it down for the day. Also, I did not see the twist coming! I read a lot of mystery/thrillers and find so many to be predictable but this one kept me guessing until the twist!

Thank you to @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio for my audio copies, I absolutely LOVED this one. This was so close to being a 5, but there was one thing I was hoping for at the end that didn’t come through. Other than that this was awesome! I love @megangoldinauthor books and this was no exception.

I did this one on audio and for the most part I enjoyed. But one audio narrator spoke a lot slower then the other one. So I had to constantly adjust my audio speed as the narrators flipped back and forth throughout the book. But other then that no issues. Very easy to follow the story and they both kept me in the story.

If you are a fan of @megangoldinauthor which I think you should be if you aren’t already, def pick this one!

I just couldn’t get into this one. I feel like this plot has been done a thousand times. It reminded me very strongly of Before I Go to Sleep.

I wanted to love it because I’ve enjoyed Goldin’s other titles. And this one has one of my fave narrators!

Sadly, this one just felt too cliche and wasn’t for me.

The story begins with Liv waking up with a bloody hand next to a dead body and writing on the wall stating, “Stay Awake”. An instant panic arises and now she has to navigate her day with no knowledge of what is happening and how she got here in the first place. It was a fun thriller where the circumstance grabbed my attention from the beginning and didn’t let me down. I either love or hate the unreliable narrator but for this psychological thriller, it definitely worked.

This was a very enjoyable and highly addictive read! Quite the Memento vibe with lots of suspense, some action, and plenty of tension. I had to suspend a little belief since I don't know if Liv's condition is a real thing (amnesia that prevents her from making new memories up to a certain point at a traumatic event and she forgets everything back to that point every time she falls asleep). It's been used before in books and movies and it definitely creates a wild ride, so I'm just going to skip over any "real or not real"/"right or wrong" and accept that for what it is!

I REALLY enjoyed reading this book. It was so addictive and I didn't want to put it down. I had a few suspects but Megan Goldin also did a great job at putting so many other things in this story that I forgot to be suspicious of one of my main suspects. They weren't overly suspicious and I didn't get pushed in the wrong direction too obviously so it was definitely fun to let the story take me where it did and just get wrapped up in the mystery.

I'll also share one spoiler that's kind of an anti-spoiler? Something that did not happen in the book.... So Imogen Church is the narrator for Liv, but she is British (I'm almost positive) and Liv is American. She voiced Liv with an American accent therefore and I was SURE we'd find out Liv had multiple personalities or something, waiting for her British side to show up because why else would Imogen Church be accented, and why not just use an American narrator? (Side note: Her American accent is great. I don't know if she's lived/is living in the US or anything about her personal life, but sometimes people putting on accents in audiobooks is not great.) So I was just waiting for her to switch to that British side the whole time! Thankfully, that is not the case. Liv had spent some time in London but Liv doesn't have an accent at any point in time. A confusing choice for me as an avid audiobook listener.... an intentional choice to throw me off from the beginning?! No idea, but really clever if it was haha

The audiobook is too robotic and difficult to listen to on NetGalley. I plan to read this book, but I’m going to read the ebook instead.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends. The narration was great

Really enjoyed this author as usual! There were moments where I had a hard time following along but overall really enjoyed,

I have enjoyed Goldin's previous books so was excited to get both the egalley and audiobook of Stay Awake. It did keep me on the edge of my seat for the whole book. Imogen Church narrated it wonderfully. Interesting premise. I enjoyed it.

It was difficult for me to get absorbed into this audiobook in the first chapter . However after a few more chapters I really was able to get pulled into the characters and plot .
Would recommend !!

I was lucky to get the ebook and audiobook of this one! I have enjoyed Goldin's previous books so was excited to get stuck in!
This was a great premise. It screamed Memento vibes to me. (Great film by the way. You should watch it if you haven't seen it!)
I started with the audiobook and soon switched to the ebook. I think the narrator was trying to add suspense but seemed to come across as hysterical. I am a massive fan of Imogen Church, so I'm not sure whether it was me! When I switched formats, I enjoyed it much better!
There was some frustrating elements to the plot, and the pivotal one 'why write stay awake on your skin?' couldn't you have saved some voice recordings on your phone? But then as the book progressed my frustrations were eased and I ended up really enjoying it!

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A good suspense/thriller novel. Good weekend read. The narrator did a good job.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, so I'll just start with this... I feel dazed. Like I just walked out of a 4hr movie I didn't understand. The plot holes are everywhere, and they're huge, like little mines exploding every other chapter, only adding to the persistent confusion. There's also a lot of repetition, one of my big pet peeves when reading novels. So needless to say, I didn't enjoy myself. I admit I stopped after chapter 12 (no need reading something I'm not enjoying) I've seen this book's premise/storyline done before and done well, so I was excited to see another version with new characters and twists, etc. But it appears it was not meant to be!

Thanks netgalley for giving me a copy so I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 💛

I did not enjoy listening to this book. I felt like the author was working hard to keep the reader as in the dark as the protagonist, who has no memory of anything that happens before two years ago. As in Memento, in which the main character tattoos clues on his body, this main character, Liv, writes things all over herself to try to remember what she learns each day, but she is very bad at clue-gathering, so the main thing she writes to herself is "Stay Awake!" This is not very helpful, as she cannot stay awake forever without becoming completely psychotic, and each time she wakes up, she thinks she is herself from two years earlier.

I was gifted an advance copy of the audiobook version of this alleged thriller by Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. There are two narrators, Imogen Church and January Lavoy, and at least one of them pronounces the word "been" as "BEAN." You have no idea how often the word been appears in a book until it is gratingly mispronounced over and over again. (Is this the English pronunciation? I have listened to dozens of audiobooks by English and Australian authors and have never heard been pronounced this way.) Perhaps if the book had engaged me more, I wouldn't have been so distracted by word pronunciation.

Can I tell you about the twists at the end? No, nothing stuck. I remember the first half felt very repetitive and like we were never going to get anywhere, and that the second half sped jarringly along. I just can't recommend this...