Megan Goldin is one entertaining author I will go back to read. This is my first novel by her and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised. I went in thinking I knew exactly what was going to happen, and often times I was, but being surprised by some of the clever turns taken. There were moments I felt frustrated by the actions Liv took when she finds the knife and slowly discovers things are no longer the way they were in her last memory. I realize looking back, I probably wouldn’t act a “right” way either. The pacing and the changes in views were done nicely and I really enjoyed reading the investigation happen as Liv is on her own discovery mystery.

Cannot wait to read more be Megan Golding! I make escape rooms for a living so I have my eyes on that one next.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this suspenseful place an discover a new author!

Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

Book Details:
-Genre: Thriller
-Also written by this author: The Night Swim
-Setting: NYC
-Features an unreliable narrator, memory loss concerns, and an ominous murder

Timelines
One thing this book does extremely well is keeping you confused and uncertain what happened throughout. The inability to trust the narrator contributes. Also, its told through multiple time points and the jumps back in forth in time (while at times confusing) really successfully kept me guessing.

Atmosphere
This book kept me on edge, in the best way. I often find that thriller books aren’t actually that suspenseful, but this one did a great job.

Overall
I highly recommend this book for thriller fans! It wrapped up a little neater than I imagined but I am picky about endings of thrillers and this one had a good balance of not being too predictable or feeling too out of the blue.

BOOK REVIEW: Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
2022 Publication Date: August 9

⭐️⭐️⭐️️

T.I.M.E. Most Anticipated Books Of 2022

CONNECT WITH A BOOK | T.I.M.E. SIMPLE LIVING TIP
Even when you don't have all the facts, you still have your instincts...

T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW:
Megan Goldin does a fantastic job of "inviting us in" to the experience of what it must feel like to wake up with your memory wiped. That premise is one that completely leaves me with so many questions as to how could a person even get from day to day? And the ante goes thru the roof, if that person is on their own.

All of those questions are prime territory for a wonderful thriller story. And since these stories are usually told from the perspective of the memory loss character, we are struggling as well with the same puzzle pieces that the character has in trying to fit everything together. But we have the benefit of having a cumulative record within the story to solve the mystery.

However in this story, the author also folds in multiple timelines which can also build the suspense for us as the reader... as that cumulative record we are trying to keep straight in our head is not unfolding in a sequential timeline. But it can also be a bit confusing as you are not sure where you are in the story.

Think of putting together a puzzle. But as you put the pieces together someone is also coming in and changing the shape of some of the pieces along the way. Making those pieces no longer fit in that same spot. So you are constantly having to rebuild the puzzle. Frustrating, right?

Well... This is just a taste of what this character experiences each time she goes to sleep.

Megan Goldin is a wonderful author... So, I wonder if her intent was to deepen our personal connection with the lead character's experience. If so, it worked! I was constantly having to turn back the pages and review the chapter sub-headings to reorient the timeline in my head.

And each time I did... My empathy for the lead character deepened.

Frustrating? Yes... Effective? Absolutely!

Perfect for readers who enjoy both a thrilling story and stepping into the shoes of a character's experience... ✨😎✨

Pages: 352
Genre: Thriller
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Time Period: Present Day
Location: Brooklyn (New York)

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Movie: Before I Go To Sleep

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she arrives at her home, she finds strangers living in her apartment. They claim to have lived there for two years.

When she searches her pockets for her phone, it has been replaced by a bloodstained knife and her hands are covered with graffiti-like messages to warn her to stay awake.

And she can not remember why...

She's horrified to see reports of a crime scene in the news where the victim's blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window.

The same message is written on her hands...

Liv is now on the run from a crime she doesn't remember committing and someone who knows what she did.

And whoever it is... They do not want her to remember...

Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory — or the lack of it — can be deadly.

BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION:
• Discuss the challenge of distinguishing fact from fiction
• Have you ever felt a desire to completely forget a part of your life? What would be the consequences?
• Explore the power of the mind when the facts are confusing and we must rely on instinct

RELATED QUOTE:
"Memory is man's greatest friend and worst enemy." - Gilbert Parker
What do you think the quote's author is trying to say with this quote? And how does this quote relate to the story in Stay Awake?

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All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Thanks to @stmartinspress I got to experience some major sleep issues, thankfully not first hand. It's been awhile since I've read a novel featuring a main character as an unreliable narrator. Although it was a bit disorienting at first, since you literally get dropped into it, I really enjoyed the journey with this one and ended up reading late into the night to finish it. I "stayed awake" if you will

Stay Awake is like a thriller version of 50 First Dates. The story follows Liv, whose memory was affected by past trauma and wakes up everyday resetting her memory back to her life 2 years ago. She woke up one day not knowing where she was and quickly realized she was involved in a murder.

I thought the premise was intriguing but some of the characters’ actions were unreasonable and felt like the mystery could’ve been solved much faster. The twist was kind of obvious and the ending felt a bit abrupt with some questions left unanswered.

Overall I think it’s still a solid and gripping story for those looking for a good thriller.

Thank you NetGalley for the free e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

3.7 roundup to 4 ⭐️

Imagine you wake up and have a bloody knife in your possession. You don’t know why but you do know that you have messages scribbled on your hand that match a message left at a murder scene. With no memory—who do you go to for help. Poor Liv is having a horrible time trying to patch her past together and she just hits obstacle after obstacle. I loved this book. The suspense was palpable and it offered different perspectives of the characters. The detectives were an awesome duo that added depth to the mystery. Is Liv in danger or is Liv her own worst enemy? You’ll have to follow the past and present timelines to piece this mystery together to figure it out. Enjoy!!

One of the better thrillers I've read in a long time. I quite literally couldn't put it down until I finally had to because I couldn't stay awake long enough to finish it. 😂 But as soon as I could get back to this book, I picked it up again and didn't stop until the end. I didn't even try to guess where the story was going. I just enjoyed the ride

Stay Awake gave me a character in Liv who kept me on the edge of my seat while simultaneously rooting for her.

I can be picky about thrillers at times, but Stay Awake was a 5 star thriller for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Stay Awake is a cool thriller/who done it and kept me guessing for about 60% of the book. It has a satisfying ending and was a unique take on amnesia.

Stay Awake is a suspenseful thriller about a woman who loses her memory every time she falls asleep, two years after a traumatic event. Told from her perspective in the present and two years ago, as well as from the perspective of the detective trying both to bring her in as a suspect for a crime and help her after discovering she may be in danger, the writing is seamless as it switches timelines and narrators. I really enjoyed this unique thriller!

Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. #StayAwake #NetGalley

I enjoyed Megan Goldin’s The Night Swim so her publicist sent me a Net Galley link for her latest book, Stay Awake. Friends, believe me when I say:

This is the suspense novel of Summer ’22.

I loved, loved, loved this twisty read and I was trying all along to figure it all out. I love a book that keeps me up at night and that I can’t wait to escape into, and this was it!

That’s it from me – no spoilers! You can thank me later…

This thriller kept me interested the entire way through! Excellent character development— lots of twists and turns and chilling details. You will want to “stay awake” at night in order to finish it!

STAY AWAKE review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

💤I read The Night Swim at the very beginning of this year and loved it! I was so excited to read Megan Goldin’s latest thriller that published last week! While I enjoyed the overall story, this one wasn’t as big of a hit for me.

💤Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Liv wakes up in the back of taxi with no memory of how she got there. When she arrives at her apartment, she finds strangers are living there; strangers who claim Liv hasn’t lived there in over 2 years. She has no idea what’s going on, no cellphone to contact any of her friends, and has a bloody knife in her bag. The only clue are the words “STAY AWAKE” written in pen on her hands. The news channels across the city are reporting on a gruesome murder that took place, and Liv can’t shake the feeling that she was at the murder scene. If only she could remember what happened…

💤The concept of this one was very intriguing to me! The idea that all of your current memories are reset every time you fall asleep is terrifying. However, I didn’t love the way the story was executed. I know that the constant repetition was there because Liv can’t remember anything and so she’s hearing the same details about her life every time she wakes up. But it started to get frustrating reading the same information over and over throughout the book. I still enjoyed this story overall, but thought it dragged at times. I have two more of this author’s backlist books to read and I definitely plan on reading them soon!!

Wow! This book was seriously intense and kept my heart racing the entire time I was reading it. Megan Goldin’s STAY AWAKE was a hair-raising ride. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out what happened to Liv Reese. The pages will turn faster the further you delve into Liv’s story.
Liv Reese wakes up in a cab, disoriented with notes, including “stay awake” on her hands. She heads home, only to find nothing is the same: it’s not her apartment. She can’t find her roommate or her boyfriend. What happened in the past two years? Every time she goes to sleep she forgets and it seems there are things she shouldn’t be forgetting because now there is murder involved and she’s either the prime suspect or knows too much. Can she figure it out before she forgets again? Who can she trust?
Don’t miss this wild ride!
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#StayAwake #MeganGoldin #StMartinsPress

A very quick mystery/thriller read! I always love when I can't predict the ending!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

In 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞, Liv runs around trying to remember what happened the last two years while also attempting to figure out why the writing on her arms reminds her to “Stay Awake”. A bloody knife found in her pocket further throws her into panic. And yes, a quick google search of herself or a trip to the police station would have likely answered several questions she had, but where is the fun in that?

Between the red herrings and past flashbacks, 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 was well-paced and kept me guessing as any great mystery should. The potential was there and the bar were definitely set high after 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐦!

Yet, its ending left me with plenty of questions, mixed feelings, and wanting more. Similar to the main character, I had a sense that I was missing an important piece of the story that may, or may not, had materialized when reading. A special shoutout to my friends who discussed this read, in attempts to shake this feeling.

𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, “𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨?”

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy.

This book wasn't terrible and I thought, for a thriller, it was written well and even had an interesting twist. The problems I had with this that prevented it from being an outta-the-park read for me were the following:

(1) The amount of red herrings and the amount of red herrings that were never resolved! I won't go into ANY details but once you finish you will completely understand. I really disliked how storylines were thrown in to be a plot device and then nothing came of it and wasn't even explained at the end.

(2) The way emotional aspects of this book were glossed over. At times the pacing felt rushed and there was a lack of emotional pull from the story. Plotting was spent on other elements that overall didn't matter at all to the story, yet the main story line didn't have a lot of attention or focus.

Overall, it was just sort of all over the place. I thought it was a nicely crafted thriller, just sort of a jumble of storylines that unfortunately didn't work super well. I didn't hate it but wasn't a favorite.

Stay Awake is a good thriller, with a premise that kept me interested the whole way through. We're following Liv -- who has amnesia and if she falls asleep, her memory resets and she cant remember anything she did that day. Each day she's able to piece together the fact that someone has been murdered, and the police think she did it.

The story got a bit slow and repetitive in the middle-- since we are having to watch Liv reset each time she falls asleep. But once the ball gets rolling and the pieces start to click into place, the story is hard to put down.

This book really confused me, though I had high hopes after enjoying Goldin’s previous books! The time stamping messed me up a bit and I couldn’t get into the story.

This book contains a trope that's revealed rather quickly, so I don't feel bad about revealing it here, and that's amnesia. Liv forgets the previous day every time she goes to sleep, waking up believing it's just over two years ago. This makes the plot feel very clunky as she makes the same discovery over and over again. Frankly, the chapters from her perspective in the present didn't actually add anything to the plot because she was pretty much lost the entire time, trying to figure out her role in the events that unfolded. Towards the end of the book, it made things very confusing as she visited the same locations and encountered the same people as 24 hours ago. This was likely done on purpose, as she "comes full circle," but it just made things hard to track.
Aside from Liv's present-day perspective, we also have chapters from the perspective of two homicide detectives as they investigate the murder. These chapters felt bland, complete with generic cop names (Halliday and Lavelle) and almost no character story. These chapters didn't hold any suspense and really just served to give the reader more information.
Finally, we have past-Liv's perspective. This was one I actually enjoyed because this is where all of the unsettling moments really took place. There's a creepy artist, a stalker waiter, someone follows her a few times, and small changes in her apartment show that someone had been there. It had me scared to go to sleep! Unfortunately, the big reveal of what happened in the past is disappointing. I think the number of red herrings did the plot a disservice because the twist was rather dull, and the author didn't actually flesh out motive or provide an explanation for any of the red herrings. Sure, that person may be innocent, but then why they hell were they acting so sketchy? The reveal of what happened in the present hinged on us caring about what happened in the past, making the present's reveal pretty much a non-issue.
Overall, I think we had a promising start that quickly went downhill with the use of a tired trope. Underdeveloped characters and a critically weak plot made matters worse. This book unfortunately wasn't for me, but I still think it has the ability to appeal to a wider audience.

A twisty thriller about a woman who wakes up in a taxi, without her phone, a bloody knife in her hands, and two words scribbled onto her skin in black ink: STAY AWAKE.

Told from multiple perspectives, this book is definitely a page-turner. Readers that don't care for unreliable narrators may want to stay away, but fans of The Woman in Cabin 10 or The Woman in the Window will enjoy this propulsive pick.