This book was SO intense and reeled me right in from the start. The story starts with the main character Liv waking up in a taxi, not knowing where she is or how she got into the back of the taxi. She decides to start at her home but when she arrives someone opens the door and claims they live there. Liv cannot remember anything from the past two years. She tries to find her phone to call a familiar name and instead finds a bloody knife in her pocket.

The story follows along as Liv tries to find out what happened to her in the lost time and why she has words written on her body telling her to "Stay Awake".

Read this for a quick thrill

TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a few (somewhat) brief $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have the opportunity to review in full. Many of these titles I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

STAY AWAKE, by Megan Goldin

This was such a fun and different read. Liv Reese wakes in the back of a taxi with no idea how she got there. When she's dropped at home, a stranger answers and claims to have never heard of her. Liv is further confused by the bloody knife in her possession and the strange writing on her body. One of the messages says "Stay awake." She's then shocked by a news story about a bloody murder in a condo. The horrifying part? Written across the window in blood, for everyone outside to see, are the words "Stay awake." Liv can't trust anyone so she runs, tries to avoid sleep (every time she wakes she has once again erased her memory of the last two years), and figure out what happened to erase so much of her life. A race against the cops and evil forces ensues that kept me sitting with this book 'til I finished. A fun concept cleverly written, I recommend this one to anyone who wants a few hours of escapism.

𝚃𝙸𝚃𝙻𝙴: Stay Awake
𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁: Megan Goldin
𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙼𝙰𝚃: eARC
𝙿𝚄𝙱 𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙴: August 9, 2022
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝:⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
◘ Was super intriguing. It held my interest despite having to put it down because I only read eBooks at night.
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝:⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
◘ Maybe because this was broken up over the course of a week, but the timeline was so confusing for me. It jumps around from the present to 2 years ago, but also like 3 hours prior and between two characters without specific POVs.
◘ The ending was so messy. Played out like a bad movie. Also, some plot holes and issues never got explained or resolved.
◘ The storyline of the art installation and "Q"... I won't say it's pointless because that's not true, but it gave nothing to the story in my opinion.
◘ Didn't really care nor need to know about the Detective's history. Not sure if it's being set up
◘ Could have been a lot shorter.
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
★★★☆☆
Some aspects of this book were sooooo obvious. I was like wait, was that supposed to be a twist? And without spoiling the ending, I was like oh okay they're not going to answer a few other questions? This is probably my least between The Night Swim and The Escape Room. I personally loved the Escape Room most, so I suggest picking up that one if you're new to this author.

My third novel by this author and I’m considered a fan. Wow just wow. I couldn’t believe all the things the main character was facing here. Not remembering or even worse deleting your memories every time you fall asleep sounds terrifying!! I could not guess the killer and that is always a plus. This is one of those books that got me immersed deeply and I ran through it.

Imagine waking up to discover you don’t know where, or even who, you are. That is the reality faced by Liv Reese every time she wakes up. She once led a very happy and successful life, working for a magazine, dating an incredible man, and living with her best friend. Now she is lost, confused, and scared, not to mention covered in strange words and phrases, with STAY AWAKE taking center stage. To make matters worse, Liv sees on the news that a crime has occured, and written upon the window, in blood no less, are the words STAY AWAKE. Liv can’t remember what happened, and someone may be willing to do anything to make sure she doesn’t.

I greatly enjoyed Stay Awake. I think my favorite thing is the way in which the story is presented, jumping along two main timelines. Goldin does this in a way that maximizes the suspense and big reveals while also creating enough confusion to allow the reader to step into Liv’s shoes and live her confusion and unknown without creating actual confusion. I liked the characters as well. Liv is so strong, even with the struggles and obstacles she faces. I also liked Darcy Halliday; any well-written, strong female character living and succeeding in a man’s world is a plus for me. I did figure out some things early on, but I still enjoyed Liz’s journey to the truth. Stay Awake definitely kept me awake; I could barely put it down. 

If you enjoy a good mystery, I highly recommend Stay Awake. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press (physical) and NetGalley (digital) for gifting to me copies of Stay Awake, given in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.

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.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for a copy of Stay Awake by Megan Goldin.

I've enjoyed Goldin's books in the past so I was looking forward to reading Stay Awake but this one fell short of my expectations. I don't love unreliable narrators and overall I found the time loops annoying.

This book was fantastic! It was a thriller and at times I had to cover my eyes! It had me on the edge of my seat and the story itself was original and absolutely terrifyingly realistic - a must read for this year!!!’

What a fun ride! I enjoyed Goldin's Escape Room & this did not disappoint.

She has a knack of giving you a thread and not wanting to let go. The story was fast paced, the mystery was intriguing, and the third act was brilliant. I felt just a disorientated as the character and often felt the same emotions she did when trying to figure out the clues she had left herself.

A satisfying read!

4.5 stars for me

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.

This was such a great read! This book was written well and the story was crazy! I read this in a day, and have already recommended this to so many friends! I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a a good suspenseful and twisted read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who rarely reads thrillers, I enjoyed this one! If you are looking for something really terrifying or bloody though, this might not be for you. I read this one pretty quickly, because like Liv Reese, I was itching to find out what has happened to her in the past two years that she doesn't remember. As we follow her along in her efforts to understand what is going on, there are some pretty brutal crimes revealed but they don't dwell on them in detail- more so on their effect on Liv's mental state (warnings for murder/stalking). At the end, I was mainly feeling hating the incompetent police and feeling bad for Liv because dayummm that girl has been through a lot of trauma!

I think I wanted this one to be more than it was. That's not to say it was BAD, I was just expecting a different sort of twist based on the synopsis, I think.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is one of my favorite psychological thrillers this year. Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab having no idea where she is or how she got there. She sends the driver to her apartment she shares with her roommate Amy only to find out that two new people live there. As she tries to figure out what is happening she finds a bloody knife in her pocket along with a wad of cash and the words “Stay Awake” written on her hand along with some other writing. As the day goes on she sees the date and realizes she has no memory of the last two years. What is going on? What happened last night? Why does she have a bloody knife? She finds herself on the run accused of a murder she doesn’t remember and being investigated by Darcy Halliday, a new homicide detective on the beat.

Once I got into this one it kept me reading late into the night! There were a few clues throughout, but I was so engrossed in the story that I just let it lead me to the end. The character development was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed this one!!

I'm a fan of Megan Goldin, and I've really enjoyed her other thrillers. Unfortunately, this one didn't really work for me. I think this is partly because I'm tired of the protagonist who can't seem to remember what happened during a specific period of time trope, but I also found the writing to be rather repetitive. I think this could have been much more gripping and interesting if it was only told from the POV of Liv Reese, rather than giving the reader context and information through the POVs of other people -- including detectives -- who actually know what's going on.

Still, if you love thrillers and quick reads with lots of twists, you may really enjoy this one.

An enjoyable thriller with an unreliable narrator and multiple timelines. I love these kinds of novels!!

What would you do if every time you fell asleep, you lost your memory? Liv wakes up in a cab, with a bloody knife, a wad of cash, and no memory. As she works to piece together what is happening- she tries to figure out who she can trust while running from the police.

We follow two timelines- right now when Liv is confused and trying to understand what is happening. And two years ago- before the incident that caused the problem happened. I enjoyed trying to understand what happened and trying to understand who the real murder was!

Thanks NetGalley for giving me access to an early copy so I could read it and share my opinion!!

I FLEW through this one! It was such a unique premise of a psychological thriller. After almost being killed two years ago, Liv starts having crazy memory loss and she loses her memory every time she falls asleep and wakes up. I can't imagine living in that type of world! After another murder is committed all signs point to Liv and she is just super confused and on the run. I really appreciated the way Megan Goldin really gave us Liv's story from before and after her memory loss. At times it was challenging to follow the different timelines but it ended up working really well. I did NOT see the end coming at all and when you read a lot of psychological thrillers that's pretty rare so it was a win in my book!

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!

This storyline was so unique and different. Dual perspectives and timelines are my favorite to read and make the book so by so much faster. It was fast-paced and well rounded but I wanted more out of the ending!

Stay Awake was a pretty quick read, one that would have been much quicker had it not been so repetitive. It was frustrating, to be honest, to read so many of the same things over and over. Of course, it’s supposed to go with the story because the main character is suffering from a never-ending state of amnesia.. but wow. Also, why does anyone who knows about her condition not, I don’t know, HELP her? And writing on your hand CLEARLY isn’t enough, Liv! If you can’t tell, I’m still frustrated by this book. It definitely wasn’t my cup of tea, so I’m glad I got through it so quickly.

Thank you to Netgalley & Publishers for access to an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Starts of great a race against time to try to figure out the mystery but it was somewhat predictable as to who was behind it.