Listened to the audiobook in 2 days. The narrators did a nice job. The character development and their relationships pulled me in. I had a "stay awake" to the switching of timeline. The ending was not predictable yet not surprising.

3.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early. This is my first Megan Goldin and I really liked it, but it also had a lot of things I didn't love. The basic premise of this book is that a woman named Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea whats going on. She asks to go to her apartment but when she gets there she finds other people living there with no idea who she is. She also finds writing all over her body that says things like "Stay awake" "don't fall asleep" etc. Simultaneously, a man is found stabbed to death in an Air BnB and the words "WAKE UP" are written in blood on the window. The rest of the book is Liv trying to figure out what's going on in her life and why she forgets everything every time she falls asleep as well as trying to figure out the whodunnit for the murder.
I liked the sense of paranoia that ran through this book. Liv doesn't know anything about her life or what happened in the 2 years she can't remember, and she doesn't know who to trust. She also doesn't know-- is she capable of murder? Why did she have a bloody knife in her pocket? I also liked the very subtle feminist undertones of this book. The detective is a woman and there's a lot of great empowerment there. I also loved that there is zero romance in this book. There are male and female detectives that could've easily added some sexy times to sell more copies and I'm grateful she didn't do that. The ending was also surprising and not what I would've guessed. That being said, did it make a lot of sense? Meh.
The things I didn't like were Liv. In general. Her mindset didn't make sense to me. If you are that scared and paranoid (understandably so) why not have yourself committed somewhere to help with the memory loss? I didn't understand a lot of her motivations and felt annoyed by her multiple times. The narrator of the audiobook didn't really help on that front because she was very breathy and timid sounding. I also didn't like how slow and redundant parts of the story felt. In the middle it was the same thing all the time. Cops looking for Liv, Liv being confused, lather, rinse, repeat. Her back story also took a really long time to unfold.
Overall I think this was a good book that kept me mostly entertained. I enjoyed it while reading it but wasn't upset when I had to put it down (except at the very end). I'm excited to read more from Megan Goldin.

Liv wakes up with no memory from the last two years and has writing all over her arms telling her to “stay awake.” Murder, detectives, and amnesia make for a interesting storyline!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. It was pretty fast paced most of the time, though I felt like it started off strong and then slowed toward the middle of the book. I listened to this on audiobook and it seemed like sometimes it got repetitive. I did enjoy the characters and felt like their stories were well played out. Overall though I enjoyed it. I would rate it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Release date: August 9, 2022

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin was one of the better psychological thrillers I have read/listened to this year. It was quite original in its plot and kept me guessing to the very end. Stay Awake was fast paced and had many twists and turns throughout. The characters were well developed and very believable. I enjoyed listening to both Imogen Church and January LaVoy narrate this suspenseful book. The chapters in Stay Awake alternated between the present and two years prior. I was hooked right from the start and had difficulty pulling myself away from this fast paced and addictive novel.

Two years ago, Liv Reese had been a victim of a very traumatic incident. She had almost died. It had left her in a coma for weeks. She had witnessed something that was so painful and traumatic that her mind blocked it out. This had occurred a little over two years ago. When she woke from the coma, Liv could not remember anything about the night in question. Liv developed a form of amnesia. She moved to London to start over. Now two years later Liv had returned to New York and expected everything to be as it was two years ago. Nothing was the same though. Liv was confused about these changes. She noticed that she had things written all over her hands. The messages on her hands read STAY AWAKE and DO NOT TRUST ANYONE! If Liv fell asleep, she forgot everything and everyone that she had come into contact with prior to falling asleep. Liv came to rely on caffeinated drinks to help her stay awake. One night she woke up in a strange bed with a man she did not recognize. In her hand was a bloody knife. She quickly got dressed and stuck the bloody knife in her coat pocket. The next day, a murder was reported. Liv was the prime suspect. All evidence pointed to Liv. At the crime scene, a man was found stabbed to death. Written across the window at the crime scene someone had written STAY AWAKE with the victim’s blood. Could Liv had committed the murder? Detective Halliday and her partner were busy collecting evidence. It did not look good for Liv.

Stay Awake was the first book I have read by Megan Goldin but she will definitely be on my radar from now on. Megan Goldin proved to be a masterful storyteller in my opinion. Stay Awake was brilliantly plotted. The ending was fantastic. I never saw it coming until it was right upon me. It was most definitely unexpected. I enjoyed how the chapters alternated between past and present day. It allowed for Liv’s prior history to be explored. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Stay Awake and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to Stay Awake through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very good psychological thriller - with elements that have been used in other books and movies. But there are elements added that keep it a compelling read. It's told from two points of view - Liv Reese's story is told first person and she's a very unreliable narrator, because she loses all memory of the past two years every time she falls asleep. The other point of view is that of Darcy Halliday, one of the police detectives who's trying to solve a murder, an investigation in which Liv has become an obvious suspect. Liv herself wonders if she could be guilty based on the evidence she sees, yet finds it difficult to believe that she could do such a thing. For Darcy's part, things don't quite add up as neatly as they appear to on the surface, and in connection to the investigation she finds herself also looking into an unsolved murder from two years prior. This book slips back and forth between viewpoints and between time frames, and we gradually learn whether the past and present are connected. It was interesting and kept me guessing.
I listened to the audiobook, which featured two different narrators. January LaVoy narrated the detective's point of view, she's a favorite of mine and was excellent as always. I wasn't as thrilled with the other narrator in this instance - I've heard of her and know she has many fans, so expected good things. But there was something about her narration here - odd inflections and cadence, a lot of hesitations, occasional non-American pronunciations - all of which kept kicking me out of the story. So I definitely recommend the book - but would also recommend just a bit of caution as far as the audio version goes - if you're a fan of both narrators, the narration here probably won't be a problem for you.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I don’t often read thrillers but sometimes I just feel like reading one. So when the time came I decided to pick this up after loving night swim. I won’t really say to much since I think it’s best to go into thrillers pretty much blind. But basically liv wakes up and doesn’t remember the last two years of her life and how she got to the place she found herself with a knife.

I somehow don’t really have much to say about this book, even though I liked it.
The characters were likable wich is kind of remarkable, since I often find the characters unlikable in Mystery thrillers. The plot was slow but interesting and the writing kept me engaged.
If you like the memory loss trope for sure read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars I'm guessing mine will be an unpopular opinion, but ultimately I found this very buzzed about suspense novel silly, repetitive, and perhaps the worst critique I can throw at it...boring.
The premise, which is a cross between the far superior Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson, and Groundhogs Day, involves Liv, a former food critic for a fancy lifestyle magazine (honestly, there is nothing in here that gives her any credibility as a journalist...she could have easily been a pastry chef or car mechanic, but I digress) who has a rare form of amnesia where she forgets everything that has happened once she falls asleep. Well, everything in the past two years, because Liv keeps believing that she is in the same life she remembers from two summers prior, before she has suffered some traumatic event that has caused this catastrophic memory loss. But Liv has no memory of what has happened to her, where her boyfriend or best friend/roommate are, why she no longer works at the magazine. And there is just page after page after page of her not remembering, and questioning why she has scribbled strange messages all over her arms telling her to "stay awake".
Then there is a murder, in which she may have been involved. So we get the other main character, who seems far more sensible than Liv even when she still had her memory. This is detective Darcy Halliday, ex-military, who is investigating the murder and is the other narrator of the story as well.
So in addition to different POV, there is also multiple timelines going on. Two years prior, three days prior, last night...it gets confusing.
No spoilers. I knew who the baddie was early on, as I guess many others will as well. But it is just makes the plot even more ludicrous.
Would someone please finish this book so we can discuss?
I'm sticking with three stars because I did finish it, and I liked the detective character.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook version of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

So, I really enjoyed The Escape Room, and I loved The Night Swim. So even though amnesia tropes are not my favorite, I wanted to try this out. But this book totally fell flat for me. Liv wakes up and doesn't know where she is or why the words "stay awake" and "don't trust anyone" are written on her arm. There's other people living in her apartment, another person in her work cubicle, and her boyfriend's phone number has been disconnected. Liv has to fill in the blanks of her missing memories. And that is literally all that happened in the book. I felt like it was the same couple of chapters over and over again of her just waking up in different places, not knowing anything about her life, etc. And the multiple timelines were so confusing to follow because it was just different years of Liv not knowing where she is. This definitely fell flat for me and it seemed like a good premise upfront but the execution was lacking.

I thought this book was done really well on audio. It was a little confusing to follow at times because of all the time jumps, but it was still an enjoyable thriller. I would figure out the twist right before they revealed it which made the pacing feel well done too. 3.5 stars.

Stay Awake is one of the best books I have read in a while! Even after finishing, I have found myself still thinking about it and thinking about certain plot points and characters. I can usually spot a plot twists coming from a mile away and figure out who the antagonist is early on with most books. This was an exception! While the main character was an unreliable source, the tidbits of information you receive as you read along keep you captivated and wanting more. I was left guessing about what was going to happen until the very end of the book. The brilliant writing and interesting premise was highly entertaining making this book a new favorite!

Amazing! I loved this fast-paced psychological thriller!

Liv suffers from a rare form of amnesia and can't recall her life when she wakes up -- this makes every time she wakes a stressful time. This has been going on for 2 years and she cannot recall these last years of her life. She tries to stay awake and writes messages to herself on her arms and hands so she sees them as soon as she wakes, but often they are cryptic and don't mean much. Add to this that Liv wakes with blood on her hands and cannot recall what happened. Then the media states that a man has been murdered and on the window of the crime scene are the words 'Wake Up". These are the exact words that Liv finds on her hands every time she awakes. Police detectives, Halliday & Lavelle, are on the case and open to all evidence (or lack of evidence) as they race against the clock to find Liv and figure out the murder.

4.5 stars - loved this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

After seeing a lot of extremely positive early reviews of this book, I obtained an ARC via NetGalley and then an audio ARC as well. Unfortunately, I realized partway through that this is just not the kind of book I enjoy. Or perhaps it’s just this particular book?

Liv Reese has an unusual form of amnesia, which manifests itself as her forgetting everything about the previous two years every time she wakes up. So she tries very hard to NOT fall asleep (hence, the title of the book). She has no idea what happened over the past two years; it’s all a complete blank and she’s frightened. Every time she falls asleep, she wakes up not knowing anything about what happened the day (or the two years) before.

I found I just didn’t care about the characters. The bouncing back and forth between the “present day” and two years before, plus the bouncing back and forth in the present day from Liv’s POV and a police investigating unit, did not help the narrative flow. There was a ton of repetition, maybe to emphasize that Liz is completely at a loss every time she wakes up, but it was too much.

Why didn’t Liv go to a hospital for help or why didn’t the people she interacted with call for help for her? I guess there wouldn’t have been a book then.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. The audiobook has two distinct narrators: Imogen Church and January LaVo. I did not care for whoever narrated the Liv portions of the book. Also, I confess that I got about halfway through the book and then jumped to the last few chapters just to see “whodunit.”

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was my first completed audio book.. and well I’m going to stick with reading books myself. I think if I find the right voice it’ll be fine, but the voice for this book was not it. I do feel like my rating might be higher had I read this one myself and processed it a bit better.

I enjoyed the dueling timelines and perspectives, but found myself a bit confused and lost at times. I also didn’t connect with any of the characters. The storytelling seemed a bit repetitive, which may also be why I checked out. I will say the premise is unique + I would recommend reading a physical copy of this one, rather than listening on audio.

what a way to tell a story. I really enjoyed all the different components from the dual timeline and different point of views. I enjoyed the discovery of what happened especially the last hour of the book, didn’t see that coming tbh. I binged this in a day and had a really good time with these characters, especially being with the main character and her struggles with memory loss. I think this was handled rather well, though I have no experience with this. I was worried going into this that the memory issues might have been handled poorly but I was luckily wrong.

Happy pub week to STAY AWAKE by Megan Goldin! I listened to this book in a day- I couldn’t stop! It was SO GOOD! Thanks netgalley, st.Martin’s press for my digital e-arc and ALC in exchange for an honest review! This one just published on Tuesday!

The ironic thing about my reading experience, is that I was falling asleep trying to finish the last 20 minutes of the book. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it was late, and I very rarely can stay up late anymore 🙃

I don’t think I have read a thriller quite like this one. I thought the amnesia story line was so clever! Could you imagine that every time you fall asleep, you forget everything from the past two years?!

This was a fast paced book, one that you can easily binge read. You will not be able to put it down! I did not guess the ending/ “who did it” which is always good in thrillers! There are also a few moments where I audibly gasped… so it was a good thing I was alien while reading!

If you have read any of the author’s previous books, you will enjoy this one, I’m sure! I highly recommend this one!

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I stopped listening to the audiobook early on because of my dislike for one of the narrators (the one doing Liv's voice specifically). I found it to be over the top and simply could not listen to the entire book like that. I don't want to negatively impact the subject of the audiobook by my negative impression of one narrator's voice so I'm still giving it 3 out of 5 stars.


OVERALL BOOK REVIEW:
I was graced with both an ARC for the ebook and an early copy of the audio for this. That's a win-win for me because I love being able to bounce back and forth between the two mediums. In this particular situation, however, I primarily ended up reading it and stopped listening to the audiobook early on. I did not enjoy the narration. As a matter of fact, if that had been my only option for completing the book, I'm not sure I could have done it.

The premise of Stay Awake is that the main character, Liv loses her memories every time she falls asleep. When she wakes up, she can't remember anything that has happened over the last two years and a few months. It's like her memory does a hard reset to a specific point in time and can't move past it. As the novel progresses, you discover that Liv had found ways to work through it previously and was living a somewhat productive life, albeit still missing time apparently. Yet, something must have happened to trigger the extreme downfall she is currently suffering at the opening of the book because she is completely lost and doesn't know where she is. The people she thinks are in her life are nowhere to be found and complete strangers seem to know who she is and her situation.

I thought this was clever and well-done. At some points it does feel like overkill. We get that she has a chunk of time she can't remember so it's frustrating being told over and over. It makes sense that Liv will repeat facts over and over when she's the narrator because it's her life and she's struggling. However, as the reader, it gets redundant and tedious. Regardless, I was hooked on the book. I simply had to know what the full story was. Even though I put bits and pieces together before things were revealed, I didn't figure the entire twist out. That's an accomplishment because I typically do.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Phycological Mystery/Thriller

Key Details: Past Trauma, Memory Blackouts, Who-Done-It, Murder Investigation, Alternates Between Past and Present

💭Thoughts: This came out just two days ago, and I have a feeling we’re going to start seeing it all over bookstagram! Liv Reese forgets the last 2 years of her life every time she falls asleep— which creates a lot of confusion when she wakes up to find out she may or may not be involved in a murder! As the story progresses we go back and forth in time between 2 years ago, when Liv’s memories are intact, and present day Liv trying to figure out what is going on, where she is, and who she can trust. I absolutely loved the twists and turns, and the moments when the puzzle pieces started coming together. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys trying to figure out a mystery throughout the book.

I realized, after finishing this book, that Megan Goldin also wrote The Night Swim — so it’s no surprise that this book was incredible as well! I look forward to reading more from her.

Wow! This book was excellent. New author to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It had me biting my nails to wait for wait happened next. Definitely would recommend this book to other readers!

#StayAwake:⁣
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I will say I almost DNF this one multiple times. Maybe I’m just impatient (that’s clearly what it is there’s no “maybe” about it) but the whole “well, this looks SO different, when did that happen” x10 and not realizing it’s because you haven’t been there in a hot minute really gets me. I get it’s an amnesia trope, but like.. after the third time I have hope the MC would be like, “bro, what’s the date?” to the cashier at the Dunkin Donuts. My irritability could have also come from the way my audio would cut half chapter, then I’d press play and it would start a new chapter and I had no idea what was going on. It was frustrating to say the least.⁣
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But I can’t take out my technological mishaps on the talented Megan Goldin. So, I read the majority of it and would attempt to listen when I could. With the audio, January LaVoy did what she does best, kill it. Her narration of Halliday was absolutely perfect. So perfect, that I wanted to listen to this narration more than of Liv’s. Liv was over dramatic and there was almost an over emphasis on the reading to where I just was happy when the audio would cut and I would have to physically read it. ⁣
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I enjoyed the reveal. It made sense and it was still a bit of a shock. I felt the tension was generated so wonderfully that i was waiting for it to burst! It was pretty fast paced once Liv realized this was not a drill, time has changed. ⁣
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Overall, I’m pretty indifferent on this one. I love Megan Goldin, but Liv just was not it for me. It may have been the narration, which stinks because the counterpart of January LaVoy was amazing. I know most of my friends really enjoyed this one, so I encourage you to check it out yourself! I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next and hope it’s a 5 🏃‍♀️! Thank you @macmillan.audio and @minotaur_books for the gifted copy. Stay Awake it out now! ⁣
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QOTD: You HAVE to stay awake. What are you doing to help achieve the goal? I’ll probably scroll aimlessly on Instagram and take a lap around the house 😂

Wow this was a good audiobook! I was constantly wrong it what I thought was going on - I love not being able to expect something!!! Great thriller ! Loved the narrator .