Liv Reese has no idea where the last two and half years of her life have gone. She doesn't know where she lives, she doesn't know where her friends or boyfriend are, and she doesn't even know who she can trust. All she does know is that someone keeps repeating the same message to her. She sees it written on walls, on her hands, everywhere. Stay Awake.

I appreciate the premise for the book and perhaps it was on purpose, but during the beginning of the book, I found myself as confused and turned around as Liv herself. Once I got into the book more, it started to make more sense, but I was a little bummed by how it kicked off for me personally.

Still, I think it was definitely an interesting book and it did keep me guessing. I definitely recommend this one if you like to be surprised. I will say I absolutely loved Megan's book, The Escape Room, so I will be checking out future books. Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Goldin does it again! This time we have an unreliable MC who wakes up not remembering the past 2 years. Slowly hints and clues come to her and she finds that not only does she not have a memory, but she might just be a murderer. What Liv does know for sure is that she cannot fall asleep again or she will forget everything. This was a frustrating yet exciting book that kept me on the edge of my seat, a definite one sitting read!

thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing an arc through netgalley

overall i like this book but there were some inconsistencies and spelling issues that i hope (but am unsure) were resolved before printing.

heads up, if you are someone who likes your fiction to be based somewhat on facts - particularly when it comes to actual medical conditions and such - you'll have to suspend belief a bit because (to my knowledge) the type of amnesia the MC has is not real. i could 1000% be wrong but i didn't find anything that sounds similar to how Liv's condition is described.

never the less, its an entertaining read - what i'd call a wine book. meaning, the kind of book i'd want to read while sitting on the couch or in the bathtub with a glass of wine.

This one is hard for me to review. I don't read a lot of thrillers so I'm not sure I'm the best judge of them. The writing here was mediocre at best. The plot has turns that make absolutely no sense and the main character was so frustrating. However, I couldn't put it down. Lol. It is totally readable. Liv forgets the last 2 year so of her life every time she falls asleep. Her solution: stay awake. There's a murder mystery - is she responsible? Where are her boyfriend and best friend? Everything in her life has changed in this short period of time and she can't remember a thing. This won't be the best book you ever read but it's a fun one examining memory.

A good thriller that really puts you right into the middle of the drama and action. I would really suggest this to readers that like the amnesia troupe because that gets a little repetitive and the middle did drag on a tad. It did pick back up towards the end and I did end up enjoying it again by the end!

Megan always gets five stars from me. Her books are fast-paced and tense with believable characters.
In her newest novel, Stay Awake, we run with Liv Reese as she tries to decipher who she is, how she got where she’s at, and what she has done. I realize this sounds like your typical thriller plot, but the way Megan presents it to you is the key to its distinctiveness.
Her stories are quick and to the point without bogged-down pages of filler descriptions. When I start one of her books, I can usually count on being totally useless until I turn the last page.
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited to read Stay Awake by Megan Goldin. The premise is chilling and instantly drew me in. Liv has a rare form of amnesia that causes her to forget everything from the last two years when she falls asleep. She awakes in the back of a taxi with notes scribbled in her handwriting on her arms and hands. The messages are cryptic and ominous, including telling herself to STAY AWAKE and to TRUST NO ONE.

The story is told from multiple POVs, Liv as well as that of the police that are trying to solve a murder. It is an engaging story, and I found myself thrilled to be along for the journey as Liv discovered memories and experiences. Several red herrings are thrown in to keep readers guessing.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this twisted yet compelling novel in exchange for my thoughts.

This book was crazy and really fun! First off, I appreciated how the author was very clear at the beginning if a chapter which timeline you were in. It made things so much clearer. It was fun that one timeline ran backwards until it ran into the main storyline. The characters were excellent and I was really rooting for Liv to be ok. I did not see that ending coming after I had several different theories that were not even close. This book will keep you guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read this book.

Goodness, this book is amazing. I loved it. I stayed awake reading this because I could not put it down. The suspense is on point with this story. Similar to Memento, the repetition of the days grips you immediately. Like Groundhog's Day, every time she falls asleep, she forgets what happened and has to start over with the clues she leaves for herself until she figures out how to break the cycle. I recommend this book for anyone who is a thrill seeker.

Stay Awake started out with a bang for me and sucked me in!! I loved the beginning and thought it was intriguing!! Then, I felt bummed because it slowed down for a bit and I thought it was going to be a dud, but luckily It picked back up at the end. Overall, I enjoyed it! I definitely felt a lot of suspense while reading and I liked how the story unfolded. I thought the storyline was unique and interesting!! 3.5 stars rounded to 4!

Thank you Net Galley and St Martins Press for an ARC in return for my honest opinion.

😴 Interestingly, I started reading this book while I was experiencing a bout of insomnia. I was having trouble sleeping all last week and reading this book while I was exceptionally tired added a unique dimension to it I wasn’t expecting.

😴 I love stories with an unreliable narrator and this one is great!

😴 The book grabbed my attention from the very start! Although it was a bit repetitive at times (which is the curse of a narrative like this where the MC has to relive/remember things over and over), this book is the definition of a page-turner!

😴 The story felt interactive to me, like I was experiencing everything along with Liv. I was tense and fearful right along with her. Maybe this was my own insomnia playing a part, but I really did feel involved in the story.

😴 I was pleasantly surprised that I did not predict the ending!

😴 This is the third book I’ve read by this author and I’ve loved them all. Each are thrillers but are quite unique from each other. Goldin is definitely an auto-read author for me.

Thank you @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Liv has a rare form of amnesia that causes her to forget the last 2 years of her life every time she wakes up. One day she wakes up with a bloody knife in her hand, which leads her to be in the middle of a murder investigation, but she has no recollection of anything that happened.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s told in multiple timelines, which I found confusing at the start, but actually added so much dimension to the story and ended up being one of my favourite parts. You read the investigator’s perspective, Liv’s present perspective and you read parts of her past which give you little hints about what’s going on.

I did find the story a little unbelievable but I thought it was really well done and the ending was fantastic.

I thought this was really unique - gave me a 50 first dates feel but with a thriller spin.

My only big con is that I wish there was better labelling for the chapters. They added dates and times as subheadings for the chapters but I found it difficult to use those to keep track of the timeline and sometimes didn’t realize if I was reading Liv’s chapter or the investigator’s chapter until I read a page.

I would definitely recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was gifted this in exchange for an honest review. I recently read this and really enjoyed it - it has shot up to the top of my favorites list of 2022.

The premise of this book is interesting and although the amnesia plot twist has been done I found Goldin wrote it really well from the POV of main character Liv throughout; past & present.

Not going to lie, the repetitiveness annoyed me a little but I guess that’s the point when you’ve lost your memory. Gave me 50 first dates vibes with a thriller murderous twist. LOL!

Regardless, I couldn’t put it down. Quick short chapters & Fast paced POV of Liv made it really interesting.
Also enjoyed detective Darcy Gallagher’s strong female powerhouse vibes & the banter/relationship build between her & Detective Jack Lavelle.

I enjoyed this one :)
Truth; enjoyed the Night Swim more :)

In short - I like this author!

I enjoyed this one - Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I found the premise of amnesia thriller to be exciting but found the story too repetitive and predictable towards the end.

Liv wakes up and sees her hands are covered in messages of : stay awake. She's in the back of a taxi and she doesn't know why. And in her bag is a blood stained knife. She sees the local news and sees a murder has taken place and is horrified that perhaps she is the murderer.

I didn't love this book. It was more suspenseful vs a thriller so maybe mismarketed? I thought it was a bit predicatable.

Wow!! When I first started this book, I really didn't think it was my kind of book. I couldn't have been more wrong! After the first few chapters, I was hooked and could not put it down. The main character was so interesting, I couldn't imagine living life with her memory issues. Bravo! Great book!
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and most of the amazing author for the chance to read this advanced copy.

This was such a creative thriller. Liv loses her recent memory every time she falls asleep, so she has written "stay awake" across her knuckles along with several other memos in ink on her body to try and prevent herself from resetting. That is all the information that is given in the beginning few chapters other than that Liv finds herself waking with a bloody knife in her pocket and no idea of where it came from.

The way this plot is written is a dual timeline with one of them working forward from the point of her waking and the other working its way from her past to this point of waking. It was really well done and though the approach could be a little disorienting it wasn't done in a way that left me lost in the story in any way. Instead, it just added to the tension in a way that had me super gripped.

As things slowly unfold, it can get a little repetitious to have Liv fall asleep, wake, and basically start over again and again. It was a little bit grating, but didn't drone on too badly and put the reader in that state of frustration that Liv would undoubtedly find herself as well. It was totally understandable and fit with the way the story needed to go. However, I will say that it was a little bit off-putting regardless of the admittedly well-handled literary structure and character consistency.

The tension was really well-handled throughout the read and I had a good time. I will admit that the plot was just a tiny bit predictable, but the red herrings she threw in were quite clever. The psychological abuse that occurs in the earlier timeline is crazy and seriously had me evaluating how I would have handled a similar situation. However, this is also where things felt a little bit unrealistic because it felt like there were some obvious things that Liv failed to do that an otherwise rational person would've likely considered.

Regardless of the minor flaws I felt existed, this was still a really fun and well-moving read.

Imagine waking up in a cab, with no recollection of how you got there and where you are going. This is how the book opens, Liv Reese wakes up in the back seat of cab with messages written on her hands and arms "STAY AWAKE" is just one of them. She has blood on her clothes and hands, along with a bloodies knife. She is dropped off at her brownstone that she shares with her best friend but she discovers someone else is living there. Where is her best friend? Why isn't her boyfriend Marco answering his phone? As she begins to realize, she has lost 2 years of her life. She begins to try to piece together the missing pieces of her life. Scared and disoriented, watching the news of a murder, is she to blame? She doesn't know who she can trust.

This reminded me of Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson and I thoroughly enjoyed that book, so yes I really loved Megan's spin on amnesia. This is the first book I have read by Megan Goldin and now I want to go back and read her other books.

3.5 stars but would round up! Fast pace thriller that had me guessing the whole time. I very much enjoy Megan Goldin's book and will pick up anything else she writes.