Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for opportunity to read this arc and provide my honest feedback.

Talk about unputdownable! This book was gripping and intriguing right from the start making it hard to put down and do my real life things (chores etc). I enjoyed the characters and storyline. The book wasn’t repetitive and dove right into the story and kept you hooked. Will definitely recommend this to others and look for other books by this author.

While I am a fan of this author for her great writing, unique storylines and ability to tell different kinds of stories (cross genre perhaps), I did not enjoy this book. It was too slow for my taste, most of the plot was happening in the mind of the main protagonist and from that narrow viewpoint. While the mystery and the mysterious case of amnesia was interesting as a concept, I did not enjoy it for reading as it seemed like details had to be repeated multiple times. I never truly engaged with this story. I put it down a couple times and had to make myself come back to it. That is a far cry from how I devoured the author's first and even second novels.
As a movie suspense/thriller for the screen I think I would have engaged with it more, marginally. I will read more by this author but no, I would not recommend this one to a friend looking for a book suggestion.

This was like memento but so different. Loved that she was trying to stay awake and figure out who killed her friend and boyfriend. Loved the different cops trying to solve the case. I enjoyed that she figuring it out and knew that she was being stalked because of food and milk. I really didn't like her friend was cheating with her boyfriend.

I've enjoyed Megan Goldin's books in the past, so I was excited to read Stay Awake! To describe this book, I'd say it has the same feel as a combination of Memento, 50 First Dates, and Law and Order, which was intriguing. Although it took a few chapters to grab me, I became invested in Liv's story and was curious to see how it would end, though I was hard pressed to care about some of the other characters. Definitely love a good mystery/thriller, and was quite surprised by the time I finished reading.

Though I enjoyed this book for the most part, I do find that I have some loose ends in my mind that I would've liked to tie up (which will possibly be covered by the time it's published)! Overall, entertaining and intriguing, though not one that I'm going to own and reread.

B O O K R E V I E W

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

G E N R E: Psychological Thriller

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

S Y N O P S I S: Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her apartment, a stranger answers - a stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out into the cold. She teaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing - and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That’s when she sees her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages : STAY AWAKE.

M Y T H O U G H T S:
☆ wow wow wow!! Every chapter gets better and better. This is an absolute page turner that has you guessing the entire time!
☆ I loved the unreliable narrator! I loved finding out about Liv’s memories along with her. I became just as obsessed as she was. The unreliable narrator created such a paranoid and distrusting atmosphere for the entirety of the book.
☆ Dual POVS. & Multiple Timelines
☆ Packed with tension, drama, and suspense. This was unputdownable. I absolutely recommend!!

I previously read the Night Swim and this just went to the top of my list for Goldin! I absolutely recommend going in blind! Can’t wait to get my physical copy in August!

I received an ARC of this novel from
St. Martin’s Press, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting read! This book begins with Liv awakening on a bench and then heading to her apartment, only someone else lives in her apartment. There are messages written on her hands and arms directing her to stay awake. Turns out, everytime she falls asleep, she returns to 2 years prior. She has no memory of anything that has happened during the past 2 years.

Somewhere else in the city, a man is murdered and written in blood on the window is "Wake Up". It turns out there is a connection between Liv and this man, Ted, he was her ex-fiance. Turns out she is a suspect in a murder that occured 2 years prior in which her roommate and her boyfriend were murdered. Needless to say, she is now a suspect in the murder of Ted. Liv spends the book searching for information about what happened during the past 2 years and who really murdered Ted. The entire book takes place in a period of 2 days with most of the book occuring on a single day;

Love this book. Not as good as Goldin's prevoius book, The Night Swim, but still a really good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC for review.

A fun, disorienting amnesia thriller with a great concept that's just a bit too crowded to pull it off perfectly.

I love the concept of this book - the main character, Liv, is suffering from a trauma she can't remember, erasing her memory of the past two years every time she falls asleep. Not only can she not remember the past two years, she can't remember that she can't remember the past two years. On top of that, she seems to be entangled in a crime, and potentially at risk of becoming a victim herself.

The mystery is well-plotted. The back and forth between the present timeline and past-catching-up-to-the-present timeline makes for great pacing, as well.

I had a small problem with the characters - there are just SO many. There's too many, especially considering Liv herself isn't really that developed as a character - her memory loss is the feature, not her character development, which is appropriate for this thriller. One detective gets some backstory and a vague side plot, neither of which go anywhere, and both of which feel out of balance and out of place, and add nothing to the main plot. It just bogs down an otherwise fast-paced story.

One other minor point - there is an unnecessary and jarring use of the word g*psy in a negative context by a character who has absolutely no reason to be flinging around slurs, nor was it acknowledged as one.

Overall, this was a quick, fun read with a great concept, that I'd rate 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This thriller immediately captured my attention! Within the first chapter I knew I was going to devour this book. I went into this blind because I just love Goldin's writing, but I suggest everyone go into this without reading the synopsis. It will really add to the story if you are not entirely sure what to expect!

Similar to The Night Swim, Goldin touches on important topics affecting people today. In the case of Stay Awake, she incorporates a stalker into the story and touches on law enforcement's disregard for stalking cases. I think that's one reason I love her books. By having these connections to the real world, it makes the characters and events seem that much more real.

Overall, this was a great mystery that was enthralling, chilling, and had me on the edge of my seat!

Very enjoyable! Thrilling and a quick read. Kept my attention and kept me guessing. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. I really enjoyed this book overall. It was very suspenseful. I thought I had the ending figured out halfway through and I was totally wrong!

I wish the performance artist wasn’t named Q, given how present QAnon has been in our society and the destruction that has caused. I wish he went by Z or X or really any other letter.

I highly recommend preordering this book to read as soon as you can!

*mini spoiler ahead* I am left with one lingering question, which is “What was the waiter from the restaurant was calling so much about if he wasn’t actually stalking her?”

Stay awake. Wake up. Don't trust anyone. These are various writings on the hands of Liv because she can't remember from one day to the next. It's a little like Groundhog day. Every time she falls asleep she wakes up at the same time two years ago. The story is repetitive and long. The ending is very disappointing and I didn't think it was worth reading the same things Every chapter to come to a disappointing ending. I would not recommend this book unless you just want to read and have nothing else on hand.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press!

This was awesome! Liv wakes up with STAY AWAKE on her hands in the back of a taxi. She is dropped off at her apartment, but someone already lives there. What is going on?

This was a mesmerizing thriller with so many twists and turns I had to read it in one sitting. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I was surprised again. One of the best thrillers of the year. This book is well worth the hype!

WOW! This was the fastest I have read a book in a long time! What a crazy, messed up ride with this book! Loved it! Thanks for the opportunity to read this!

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy!

I really enjoyed both of Goldin’s previous books and was excited when my request for this was approved.

Even though I was hooked from the beginning, early on I thought this was going to be a cheap Memento knockoff - I was wrong.

Great pacing, just enough twists and turns, I can honestly say this was a rare thriller where I didn’t see the end coming.

Finished in less than a day. Couldnt put it down. I can now stop neglecting my family

I really enjoyed Goldin's other books (The Night Swim and The Escape Room) so I was really excited to see her new book on Netgalley! Stay Awake follows Liv, who forgets everything over the last two years when she goes to sleep. She wakes up and finds notes written all over her arms and hands that give clues to who she is, but nothing is familiar to her. We find out she suffered a major trauma two years earlier and is dealing with the aftermath. She comes to realize she is wanted in connection with a murder and doesn't know who to trust.
However, because she forgets everything, there is A LOT of repetitiveness in this book.
I did like getting her perspective and that of the detectives on the case. I also liked the dual timelines between the present and two years ago.
But there are just too many unresolved issues in this book. The killer is revealed but Goldin never states WHAT their motive was (if it's what I'm thinking it was, then it's pretty lame). Also, Liv is stalked considerably two years ago. Was that the killer? Why did they do that?
Stay Awake did have me wanting to read "just one more chapter", but I was wanting more at the end.

I liked it, didn't love it. The premise seemed a little derivative, but the author fleshed it out enough to make it believable. The ending felt a little rushed. It took me a while to get through it, which probably led to a lower rating. I would read more from the author. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher St. Martins Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. Liv Reese suffered a traumatic experience and as a result whenever she goes to sleep she loses her memory of what happened the last couple of years. She wakes up in an apartment and finds herself with a bloody knife, a dead man and no idea how she got there. It took me a little bit to get into the storyline which has two timelines. There is a bit of repetition to show the reader that when she falls asleep she forgets and I suppose that was necessary to make the storyline seem believable. Other than the repetition - I enjoyed the story - I was really wanting to know what happened to Liv that fateful day and what brought her to the present day where she is suspected of murder. Goldin did an excellent job of building the suspense and although I did guess who the culprit was - I still needed to know how and why.. I loved Goldin's previous two books - Escape Room and The Night Swim. and appreciate the opportunity to read and review this newest book.

This was great plane reading - it sucked me in immediately and kept me entertained. Liv is a woman who wakes up, not remembering how she got where she is - she just recalls answering her office phone on a summer day. Now it’s cold and she’s confused, and she has notes saying stuff like “stay awake” written all over her hands. This happens over and over, because every time she falls asleep, she forgets. Liv’s a great unreliable narrator because she truly can’t remember, but the words on her hands give her clues to follow, so she’s not flying totally blind. The story alternates between Liv’s story over the course if a few days now, Liv’s story two years ago, and the perspective of two homicide detectives working a case alongside Liv trying to piece together her forgotten life. I did enjoy the book, something about the detective sections felt a bit forced - there were times I was getting details I didn’t need to flesh out characters that didn’t feel important to the story, and the way the detectives worked and spoke felt inauthentic. When we were with Liv, I believed what was going on. When we were with the cops, I kept wondering why I needed any details about either one if them and their history and I kept wanting to get back to the real story. I also felt like the culprit was just unsatisfying and the motive was weak. All that aside, I liked Liv and how she managed to hide her memory loss - or embrace it when it benefited her - and I loved the way her story unfolded, switching from past to present and filling in gaps along the way.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reader copy.

I have thoroughly enjoyed both of Goldin’s other books so I was excited to snag this one. This one has a really fun premise that’s kind of a mix up of Before I Go to Sleep and the Girl on the Train. I got sucked in immediately and wanted to keep reading until I figured it out.

Stay Awake has a lot of the same elements that I’ve liked from Goldin’s previous works. I never quite knew who to trust or what to think, and there were a lot of good red herrings. Liv loses her memory every time she falls asleep, which could have gotten old narratively but Goldin did a good job of balancing it. There are time jumps and different timelines but I was always able to keep it straight.

Some of the dialogue felt a bit stilted/unnatural, and I thought the ending was rushed and missing a bit of rationale. Overall, a quick paced and fun thriller!

I have read all of Megan Goldin’s previous novels and she just keeps getting better. Stay Awake is a wild read from start to finish. It is Memento-esque, in that Liv, the main character, has no memories when she wakes up and only some writing on her hand to rely on. The storyline switches between the present and two years earlier, as well as from the detective’s perspective.

What I liked: Stay Awake had so many twists and turns and the sense of suspense was heightened the entire time. I was intrigued by the story and all the possibilities so I read through it very quickly.

What could be better: I really liked Darcy Halliday, the detective character, and I would have liked more of her story too. Maybe Goldin will write a series with her as a lead character?

I thought it was a good suspense story so I would give Stay Awake four out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book to other readers who like mysteries and thrillers and are looking for something to keep them on the edge of their seats.

*Please note that the ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*