This was a solid thriller and it didn’t completely blow me away which is why I rated it 4 stars instead of 5 stars. Even with that, it was super interesting and kept me engaged. I liked the different characters and the messy timeline because it kept me on my toes!

I am such a fan of her work. While I enjoyed this one, it is probably my least favorite. It reminded me of a thriller version of 50 first dates. I had a little trouble with the logistics of this one. If you forget everything for the last two years every time you fall asleep, how would you know that it was the falling asleep that caused the problem? Wouldn’t the people around you be the ones to figure that out? And how can anyone possibly think they just won’t go to sleep so they don’t forget everything?

Honestly once I was able to just let all that go and make it fact, I did enjoy the story. Obviously Liv was the ultimate unreliable narrator, but I was also waffling on who she could trust. The pace is frenzied from the start since Liz can’t remember anything from the past two years, someone is living in her apartment, she is no longer employed where she thought she was and someone she knows has been murdered.

It kept me on my toes, but if you haven’t read any of her books yet, I’d suggest starting with the Night Swim. So very good.

Such a good thriller! I own some other Megan Goldin books, but this is the first one I had read. I look forward to reading her others.

I have loved everything I have read by this author. This book was a little confusing to me at first but once I realized what was happening, it was such a fantastic story! I thought the writing, the characters, the atmosphere, the twist- I loved it ALL. Grateful to have been granted a copy to read!

Omg this book was amazing! One of the best thrillers that I’ve read in a while. I love the unreliable narrator and how many twists this story took.

I definitely saw some things happening and had a good idea of where things were going but the ride there was fantastic. Such a great read and great writing.

What would you do if every time you fell asleep you forgot everything that happened? And when you did woke up, you would find writings on your arms to stay awake and not to trust anyone. For Liv Reese this is a real problem, and she can’t seem to understand why the people in her life aren’t showing up for her.⁣
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I really loved Megan Goldin’s other novel The Night Swim, I just knew that I had to get my hands on Stay Awake. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations of it. I really wanted to love it but I felt like it was repetitive and confusing to keep up with.⁣
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I still really loved the characters especially the detectives point of view. But for me the story fell a little flat, that’s not to say it’s not good. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Every time Liv Reese wakes up, she has no idea how she got where she is. Why is she in the back of a cab? On a park bench? In a subway car? And why does she keep waking up discovering hints that she may have done something terrible last night? Perhaps most importantly, who is the ominous person who keeps calling her knowing far more about who she is and what she’s done than she does..?

Amnesia in the thriller books is a bit of a tired and overused plot device in my opinion, *but*, and this is an important but, they usually use retrograde amnesia, which is when one forms new memories perfectly fine, but can no longer remember events that happened prior to the onset of amnesia. If you’ve seen Memento (and if you haven’t, you should), you’re familiar with the concept of anterograde amnesia. In Stay Awake, the protagonist Liv suffers from a similar condition; her memories stop at a fixed point two years ago, and anything new she learns is lost as soon as she falls asleep. I really enjoyed this twist on the common trope and felt it added suspense and a sense of urgency. The chapters flew by, and I didn’t want to set this one down.

An unfortunate side effect of using anterograde amnesia/a repetitive fugue state as a plot device is that it involves a lot of repetition. Each time Liv wakes, she needs to “catch up” to something the reader is by now well aware of. I didn’t mind this repetition as it’s fairly necessary, but do wish the author had taken more care to avoid other completely unnecessary instances such as a character reminiscing about how she met her boyfriend, only for him to then talk about the same thing a few pages later. That sort of thing happens over and over in this novel.

This is one of those books that I think will be best devoured in one sitting if possible. It’s a quick, gripping read. But it’s also one that suffers if the reader takes any time at all to sit back and think. Plot holes, loose ends, and stupid character decisions galore. And then all wrapped up in too pretty and easy of a bow, minus all the discarded red herring threads that is. That said, it really only hit me after I’d put the book down to write my review. My initial thoughts were actually a lot more positive and had I not had to sit with my thoughts on it to review, I might have given it a higher rating.

Lastly, I cannot leave without mentioning this because it bothered me the entire book: Guuuurl, do you not wash your hands??? There is a reason Leonard uses tattoos in Memento!

I loved The Night Swim by Goldin, highly disliked The Escape Room, and would place this one in the middle. It was a really fun way to spend a freezing cold afternoon, snuggled up under a blanket. It just didn’t quite hold up to further scrutiny. So if you’re simply looking for a fun escape read, this wouldn’t be a bad choice at all.

I didn't love this book. It was good, but at times felt like a lot of familiar stories in one. It made me think of Memento but with a very cool main character. I'd recommend this book if you want a good page-turner to whole away the rest of winter.

This book was crazy, mind blowing, and kept me very engaged. At first, I got a little annoyed at the way the investigative parts were written at the beginning and I was a little bias that I might not like this book. I was proven wrong as the book came together nicely in the end.

Great premise, well executed!
This is one heck of a wild ride.
Liv has a problem, if she falls asleep when she wakes up she'll have no memory of anything that's happened in the last two and a half years. She does everything you can think of to remind herself of the latest events in her life by writing notes on her hands and arms, in a journal and even on the walls of wherever she lives. What happened to cause her memory problems is that she experienced a traumatic event that left her in a coma for two weeks after being found. If she could only remember what happened...
I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller from start to finish. I thought I'd have to suspend disbelief but the author does such a good job with the story that I easily went along for the ride. Putting myself in Liv's shoes made me wonder what I would do in her situation and the answer I kept coming up with is, probably just what she does, which gave the story that much more of a real feel to it for me. And although the climax and reveal weren't surprising to me the execution of them were suspenseful and at the edge of your seat thrilling.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me a copy of the book to read, review and enjoy. Sorry it took me so long...

I didn't care for this book, sadly. I was a big fan of the last novel I ready by Megan Goldin, but I just couldn't get into this one. I found it slightly boring.

This is definitely the best Megan Goldin I’ve read. It was definitely a compulsive read and I couldn’t put it down. The only reason it wasn’t 5 stars is because it was slightly repetitive at times.

Wow. This book was a trip! I was right there trying to solve the mystery with Liv. Who can be trusted?! I loved this mystery and there were a lot of read herrings that kept me guessing. Megan Goldin is quickly becoming one of my "must read" authors and I'm excited for her next one!

I still have to think about this one for a bit. I found that the writing techniques employed to help the reader understand Liv and her amnesia started to annoy me. I started wondering if I fell asleep and was starting this book over again! I really wanted to like it more than I did.

Liv Reese wakes up doesn’t remember what happened hours ago, she can’t find her purse or keys. She discovers that what she thought was her apartment isn’t her apartment anymore. Apparently, two years have passed for which she does not remember. She shows up at the last workplace she remembers only to discover that she no longer worked there. They were surprised but welcomed her back as a writer. She also learns she has a boyfriend Marco.

The story does go back two years to help fill in the blanks. It’s mostly a twisted and it becomes confusing as to who really experienced the trauma and why. I didn’t like the way the story was repeated each time Liv fell asleep and began regaining her memory.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this advanced reader copy. My review is my unbiased honest opinion.

Liv Reese has severe amnesia- she can’t remember anything from the past two years. To make matters worse, she forgets all of her newly formed memories every time she falls asleep. Liv had been living in London and has only recently returned to New York. In Stay Awake, we follow along as Liv navigates this strange world that is two years beyond her most recent memory.
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Complicated enough yet? Not quite. A murder has been committed in a rental apartment and Liv might be connected. So now, a woman with no memory is trying to navigate life and run from the law. I found this to be an absolutely gripping thriller that was exciting from beginning to end.
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As with most thrillers I read, I did figure out who the killer was fairly early on. However, I wouldn’t say that this was from a trail of breadcrumbs as in other books. I thought the author did a great job with the narration of the novel. We get insights by the main character and the detectives on the case. The reader always knows more than any individual character and I personally love that style.
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Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC!

This is one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a long time! I loved the entire story and found myself flipping pages as fast as I could. Megan Goldin is becoming one of my go-to authors!

I loved this book! It kept me guessing and I liked the alternating perspectives. Great quick read if you like thrillers.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I really like this author and thought this book was well paced and well thought out. I will continue reading her given her books are usually really good!

Frightened and confused, Liv Reese doesn’t understand why there are strangers living in her apartment, or where her roommate Amy is. She’s lost her phone and can’t remember where she was earlier that evening, but her childhood habit of writing notes to herself on her hands provides a small clue, a bar called Nocturnal, along with an order to STAY AWAKE.

Liv’s last memory was of living in New York with her roommate Amy, working at Cultura Magazine, and spending time with her boyfriend Marco. Being escorted home by a man who obviously knew her and had done this many times before was unsettling, and she was horrified to learn she was currently living in a dirty basement apartment. When Liv showed up at Cultura the next morning, she didn’t understand where all her co-workers had gone, why people were asking her about London, or what she had actually been doing for the past two years. She catches a segment on the morning news, sees herself entering an apartment building with a stranger, and then learns that she is wanted in connection with a murder that she has no memory of committing.

The suspicion of everyone, especially the police, keeps Liv off balance, and made for interesting reading. Told in alternating time periods, two years earlier and present day, clues are offered that hint at the reason behind Liv’s memory loss. I really liked Darcy Halliday and her approach to the case, utilizing her military training to look more deeply into the murders, resisting the original case file notes. This was a fascinating read, one that pulled me in and kept me guessing.