Overall I really enjoyed this book and it was an easy read for me. It kept me interested all the way through even though some of it was a bit predictable.
Took one star off because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies ever, Momento, so it initially felt like a familiar story. But the author changed enough of the main storyline to keep me interested. Plus I find the issue of memory loss and what this main character had to go through as fascinating. A really nice read, I recommend you read this if you like a fast paced thriller.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing a digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest opinion. (Posted review on Goodreads too but I use the app so still trying to get the link)

This is a page turning, popcorn eating thriller that I loved. We are following Liv Reece who is suffering from a horrible conidition where when she falls asleep she wakes up not remembering anything from the past two years. That is horrific enough but on top of that it is possible she is a murderor or someone is after her. We also get flashbacks from two years ago and also the police detectives POV in the present. I could not put this book down and loved it. My one criticism is that I thought Liv was a little dim and did not do things that could have given her more information about what was going on. Regardless I still loved it and this is my favorite form the author.
I received a copy of the book from NetGalley.. The opinions expressed are my own

Megan Goldin is a really solid thriller author. I consistently enjoy her books and this was no different. Liv wakes up and has not a CLUE where she is, she just is covered in blood and has notes to herself written all over her body. Theres been a murder and Liv cannot remember anything from the past 2 years. I thought the concept of Liv having an amnesia like issue was super interesting and really added a flair to the story that we don’t typically get to read about in thrillers. I enjoyed having an unreliable narrator that wasn’t drunk or drugged or whatever. I think the only other book I can compare this to is Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman. We get a lot of details in her awake moments that she forgets when she falls asleep so I was constantly wishing I could tell her WHAT WAS GOING ON!! Definitely a very unique and freaky idea for a book that was executed really well!

Wow, what a wild ride this book was! Megan Goldin is fast becoming one of my favorite authors when it comes to thrillers. Her books are always an adrenaline rush and just an overall mind-blowing experience and her latest novel Stay Awake may be her best yet!

The story follows a young woman named Liv Reese, who has just woken up in the back of a cab, with no memory of how she got there or where she was heading. Disoriented, Liv heads to the apartment in Brooklyn that she shares with her best friend Amy, only to get there and learn that there are two strangers living there instead. Liv is even more confused when the woman who now lives there yells at Liv and tells her that she needs to stop showing up at their place. Apparently, she has done this before. Liv then reaches into her pocket for her cell phone to try to find help, and, instead of her phone, she finds a bloody knife and notices that her hands are covered in black ink, scribbled messages everywhere telling her to STAY AWAKE. Liv has no idea what is going on, but she knows she needs to figure it out.

In addition to following Liv, the story also follows Detective Darcy Halliday. Darcy and her partner Jack Lavelle are called to the scene of a homicide. When they arrive on the scene and begin to investigate, it’s clear that the killer has not left behind many clues for them. The biggest and most unusual clue is that the message STAY AWAKE has been written in the victim’s blood backwards on the windows so that it can be read by anyone standing outside the building. Undeterred by the lack of evidence, Darcy and Jack set out to catch a killer. When they release key information about the murder, including the STAY AWAKE message, to the public, Liv sees it and realizes that she is somehow connected to this murder even though she remembers nothing about it.

I really enjoyed the way the author has the story unfold. We alternate between Liv’s perspective and Darcy’s so we get clues about how Liv has ended up in the predicament she is in, and then we start to get clues about the murder as Darcy and Jack start to piece together what has happened. I liked that I felt like I was piecing everything together right alongside the characters.

Liv’s whole situation fascinated me because it is such an original use of the amnesia trope. Earlier on in the book, it becomes clear that every time Liv falls asleep, she forgets all her memories going back two years, including several tragic events that probably led to her amnesia in the first place. Every day Liv is stuck in the worst kind of Groundhog’s Day imaginable, and it makes her incredibly vulnerable, especially since she has no idea how she is connected to this murder. She has no idea who she can trust, if anyone, and because of the amnesia, she also has no idea that the real murderer is out there looking for her too. It becomes a game of cat and mouse where every time the mouse falls asleep, she forgets about the cat. It makes for a wild and twisty ride and I was afraid for Liv every time I turned the page and praying the detectives would figure out who the killer was in time to save Liv.

Stay Awake is an intense thriller filled with tension and suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I kept trying to guess who the murderer was and I was wrong every time. I love it when a thriller is so well plotted and unpredictable that it keeps me guessing until the reveal, and Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake was a winner for me.

This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a minute. Usually I am a romance girl, but occasionally I love a good thriller when it’s done right, and this was done right.
This book was hard to put down, and had been second guessing everything!

This one had the most amazing premise. and in the beginning I was hooked. Sadly the MC just kept making dumb and illogical decision after decisions and it made me so frustrated. The ending was very illogical, and I just didn't love this as much as I'd hoped

This is my second book by Megan Goldin as I had read her debut book which I thought was grippingly good. This one did not disappoint. Stay Awake follows Liv Reese who wakes up with no memory of how she got to where she was. She goes back to her apartment only to find strangers answering the door who claim to live there. She goes to her place of employment and they say that she had moved out of the country to work. Nothing is what she remembers it to be. She is also starting to fear that maybe, she could have killed someone because she finds a bloody knife on her.

Stay Awake is filled with a lot of present day and flashbacks to 2 years earlier. It takes a bit of time to get used to and being able to keep track of what is going on. I will say that I felt the two parts were written well and that it was a continuous transition between both present and flashbacks.

The idea of what is going on with Liv Reese is very interesting and made for a good plot. There is a lot of action and mystery in this story. How Liv Reese was able to evade the police for so long is also interesting and makes the game of cat and mouse fun.

This was an incredible read! There are so many twists and turns it gives you whiplash…but in a good way. You never know who to trust and the final twist is a jaw dropper. The MC having amnesia is so scary and you really feel her terror throughout the story. This is so different from her last book and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

This was an engrossing read! I felt like I was able to get inside of the protagonist's mind to understand the discombobulated feelings Liv Reese was experiencing.

Imagine waking up in the back of a cab having no clue as to how you ended up in the cab or even where you are? Now imagine pulling up to a building where your apartment is, having no key to get in, and having to wake your roommate to get inside, only to discover the couple who answer the door are strangers. After being kicked out, digging through pockets to find your phone only to discover a bloody knife! Welcome to Liv Reese's life!

Liv is missing two years of her life and every time she falls asleep she forgets everything. Her memory is what happened two years prior which only adds to her confusion of why her world is upside down and why when she goes to her place of employment she doesn't recognize anyone although they seem to know who she is. Coworkers talk in hushed tones.

After news breaks of a murdered man and a cryptic message written on the window, very similar to what Liv scrawls on her own hands and arms, and a photo that Liv recognizes as being herself. She is wanted and a suspect, but Liv knows she can't provide an alibi nor does she know what happened so she avoids the police. Little does Liv realize the police may be the only ones that can help her!

I loved this book. The story kept me guessing as to why Liv was the way she was and what happened to her. The only thing she trusted was words written in her handwriting on herself and a drive to at all costs to stay awake. Along with Liv, I wondered who was friend and who was foe.

I received an ARC from NetGalley via St. Martin's Press and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

Ooh time goes by and if i don't write the review right away...sigh. I'm trying to be better. The best i can do right now is give a star count...

Goldin's The Night Swim was a book that sucked me right in and helped to reignite my passion for reading, so I was super anxious to get my hands on Stay Awake. From the memory loss to the strange body writing, this one gave me Memento vibes from the start (a movie which I enjoyed)! The amnesiac elements gave made this a ground hog day kind of story which became repetitive at times. I had no clue how it was all going to come together and who the "bad person" was until the very end.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the Stay Awake ARC for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

I liked the idea but really couldn’t get into this. It made no sense. No one seemed like a real person.

This was a fast paced thriller that was very unique and entertaining. A woman has no memory of her life in the past 2 years and she forgets everything again if she falls asleep. Told from the perspective of a detective and the main character, it was an entertaining mystery.

Being back in school has drastically cut into my reading time. So, I try to find books that draw me in from the first page. THIS one did just that!!

“As I wake to find myself slumped in the back of a cab, without any recollection of how I got here, or where I’m going.”

Right away we’re looking at a woman who doesn’t remember something and genuinely leads to not remembering almost things. She has words scribbled over her hands telling her to “Stay Awake”. Liv doesn’t remember things, she remembers her roommate and her boyfriend and where she lives. Or does she?

This story was captivating. It never left me bored, I was constantly wanting to keep reading, wanting to find out why Liv couldn’t remember things. The flow was perfect, the characters well developed and the story was sooo good! Mystery and suspense were the top themes and they played perfectly. Creepy is a definite word I’d use to describe the story. Five stars all the way!

_Stay Awake_ by Megan Goldin

_Stay Awake_ by Megan Goldin is a thriller that is different from a lot of thrillers I’ve read, but it also has a lot of similar elements.

Liv Reese wakes up and can’t remember why she is where she is. She doesn’t know why she’s holding a bloody t-shirt with a bloody knife. She hides it in her clothes and goes to her apartment…only it isn’t her apartment anymore. What is going on? And how is it two years later than she remembered?

Liv’s memory resets two years every time she goes to sleep. This does make the chapters from her point of view kind of repetitive. However, while this is still a book that relies on some characters not believing the main female character, this does make a nice change from the female MC being an alcoholic trope.

The dialogue in the scenes with the police officers felt a little awkward, but for the most parti enjoyed switching between Liv and the officers’ points of view.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it took so long to review.

This was an interesting take on an amnesia themed thriller. Every time Liv falls asleep she forgets everything that happened to her in the last couple of years due to a traumatic near death experience. Live must stay awake and figure out who the killer is before she takes the fall or is killed herself. The story was face paced and intriguing. I liked the uniqueness of the story. I liked the ending of the book to. I do need to say the book does get a little repetitive with the amnesia and having to start over again when she falls asleep.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, its a solid thriller with an amnesia trope.

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book. I am leaving this honest review of my own will.

The cover and title were what drew me to this one. I’m glad I read it! The characters, and the world building are great.

This thriller kept me entertained. I mostly listened to the audio and loved January LaVoy’s narration of course, but the other narrator was lacking. She emphasized weird words, and was slow and far too dramatic. It was almost as if she didn’t know where the story was headed herself, it made it confusing. In terms of the story, it was repetitive and I think Liz being able to wake up and finally remember things needed more explanation. The story ended when it should have and yet it still felt abrupt. Not my fave from this author, but a solid, entertaining, read. Rounded up.

This novel felt a bit like a reworking of the familiar theme of living a day over and over again. In this case, every day is new for Liv as she forgets the previous one and the two years prior. The back story as to what happened to her is revealed in a dual time manner as the current investigation progressed. I did feel that produced a choppy plot development. The narrative contains multiple points of view, something I found a bit distracting.

I also felt Liv's experiences where repetitive. I never understood why, when she was told or realized she lost her immediate memory every night, why she did not do an online search and write down what she learned about herself and the others she had known. She could have gone to a public library and done so. Because of that, Liv's repeated and frustrated experiences lost interest for me.

Then there was the ultimate villain. I felt the identity was not well foreshadowed in that we did not know information about this person that would have helped readers at least suspect the individual. There was a nice bit of suspense at the end but only because the villain did not kill Liv right off, something that did not make sense to me.

Goldin does well with unusual plots and I have liked her previous novels. This one just did not seem up to par with a choppy plot progression, lack of character development for Liv, and a less than realistic ending.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

This is the second Megan Goldin book I've read and the second one where I've been really engaged until the end. For whatever reason, I just find the endings of her books kind of lackluster, which is a shame because the rest of the book is very good and unique.

Stay Awake is about Liv, who has a unique form of amnesia where every time she falls asleep, she forgets everything. Think the Adam Sandler movie 50 First Dates, but with murder. She does have memories of her life from two years ago, so she keeps returning to that time every time she wakes up. Unfortunately it also seems that she was a witness to a murder she doesn't remember.

Like I said, the book was interesting and unique and everything, but the ending felt almost juvenile in the way everything wrapped up so neatly. If this was marketed to a YA reader I could completely understand, but since this is adult fiction I think it just didn't fit.