Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi and doesn't know where she is. She goes to the brownstone, where she lives but 2 strangers are there and they have no idea who she is. she reaches for her phone, in her pocket but it's not there , instead there is a bloodied knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.
This story goes back and forth from the present to 2 years ago.
She’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years?
This book grabbed me from the beginning and read it all in 1 sitting. As we find out what has happened 2 years ago I had an idea what had happened and maybe who had done what. I felt really bad for Liv as she would forget everything every time she woke up.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the book to review.

3.5 stars - Waking up not remembering where you are might be unsettling but not as much as finding a bloody knife wrapped in a shirt in your pocket.

Lost and confused Liv doesn’t understand why strangers are living in her apartment. Where is her roommate and why is her boyfriend not answering her calls. Why does she have writing all over her hands and arms telling her to stay awake.

Trying to piece together her memories, amidst the chaos, and police looking for as a suspect in a murder is something she can understand.

With Liv’s memory being so unreliable she is trying to figure out why she can’t remember the last two years. However the closer she gets to finding out the more danger she is in.

I struggled with the beginning, it dragged a bit for me with it being repetitive from Liv’s POV and the cops POV. I figured out early on who did it, though the journey there did lead you down many possible leads. It was a solid read, and would keep you guessing.

3.5 stars rounded up!

Stay Awake is the third book I’ve read by the author Megan Goldin. I was intrigued by the description of a woman who loses her memory every time she falls asleep, and while the book was entertaining, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as her previous two books, The Escape Room and The Night Swim.

“Starbursts blink from streetlights like they’re sharing a secret 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.”

Goldin grabs our attention from the first line, planting the reader right in the middle of the action. She also manages to keep Stay Awake from growing repetitive despite the fact that Liv has to rediscover events from the past two years each time she falls asleep. She spends the novel fighting to stay awake, to figure out exactly how she’s involved in a murder and with a victim she doesn’t remember. The novel jumps between Liv’s point of view in the past and present, as well as the present point of view of detectives investigating the murder, until the two time lines finally converge toward the end of the novel.

Goldin kept me guessing as characters and plot points were revealed, but I did feel a bit underwhelmed with the ending. There were a few things that were too coincidental for me, as well, and I often wondered how Liv was managing to avoid being found with the poor decisions she continued to make.

I feel like maybe Stay Awake could have been polished a bit more, but many other reviewers disagree with me, so it could also just be that Thillers are not my typical genre. I do tend to find it difficult to go from reading books where the reader is very connected with their main character to books with an unreliable lead. It’s definitely not what I read most often.

Overall, Stay Awake kept me turning pages, interested, and curious, and that’s what’s really important, right?!

This is a very good psychological thriller - with elements that have been used in other books and movies. But there are elements added that keep it a compelling read. It's told from two points of view - Liv Reese's story is told first person and she's a very unreliable narrator, because she loses all memory of the past two years every time she falls asleep. The other point of view is that of Darcy Halliday, one of the police detectives who's trying to solve a murder, an investigation in which Liv has become an obvious suspect. Liv herself wonders if she could be guilty based on the evidence she sees, yet finds it difficult to believe that she could do such a thing. For Darcy's part, things don't quite add up as neatly as they appear to on the surface, and in connection to the investigation she finds herself also looking into an unsolved murder from two years prior. This book slips back and forth between viewpoints and between time frames, and we gradually learn whether the past and present are connected. It was interesting and kept me guessing.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I don’t often read thrillers but sometimes I just feel like reading one. So when the time came I decided to pick this up after loving night swim. I won’t really say to much since I think it’s best to go into thrillers pretty much blind. But basically liv wakes up and doesn’t remember the last two years of her life and how she got to the place she found herself with a knife.

I somehow don’t really have much to say about this book, even though I liked it.
The characters were likable wich is kind of remarkable, since I often find the characters unlikable in Mystery thrillers. The plot was slow but interesting and the writing kept me engaged.
If you like the memory loss trope for sure read this.

The narrator was good, I liked her voice and it was easy to follow the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! It was fast-paced and suspenseful. I really couldn’t wait to find out what really happened. The unreliable narrator in this story was unique and compelling.

I loved this thriller - it was just the right amount of creepy and the twists and turns kept me guessing throughout. It felt like a fresh take on the unreliable narrator trope, which is hard to do these days! Megan Goldin is becoming a must-read author for me as her last few have been big hits for me. Highly recommend!

Megan Goldin does it again!

In Stay Awake, we follow Liv, who forgets everything when she sleeps. When she wakes up, she’s in New York but everything is different. There are strangers living in her home, her work colleagues are different and her best friend doesn’t pick up her calls. I went into this book without knowing anything about it and I’m glad I did so I’ll leave you with this small description of the plot.

I read two other books by Megan Goldin but I was not expecting this. I’d say it’s more psychological than I was expecting. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Because we follow such a vulnerable character, I was stressed for most of the book. But it was so entertaining! I couldn’t put it down. I read it quickly because I wanted to know what had happened in the past and it was such a consuming book, I thought about it all the time.

I don’t want to spoil anything but I have to say that the characters were really well written and the flashbacks were well executed. We were always bouncing from timeline to timeline and it added a lot of tension. It’s one of those books where the final reveal is not everything. Even if you know what happened and who did it, the book is worth it for the journey Liv goes through to get there.

Megan Goldin is quickly becoming one of my favorite mystery writers. Everytime she releases a book, it impresses me more than the one before. I will continue reading her books and can’t wait to see what mysteries she will bring us next.

I primarily listened to this one (thanks to the ALC!) and thought this book was done really well on audio. It was a little confusing to follow at times because of all the time jumps, but it was still an enjoyable thriller. I would figure out the twist right before they revealed it which made the pacing feel well done too. 3.5 stars.

The premise of the book had me gripped. The pacing was off but it was still fun to watch the story come together.

Stay Awake is a thriller about a woman that wakes up and has no idea where she is or what has happened to her. My problem is I could relate to Liv, I didn't understand what was going on the majority of the time. I read other reviews and they were for the most part very high, but I don't see how. The story was not engaging and did not hold my interest. The premise sounded interesting, sadly it was not for me.

Megan Goldin's latest novel is a riveting story that definitely made me "stay awake" to find out what happens. The time stamps at the beginning of each chapter helped me keep the back and forth timeline straight. I wouldn't mind reading more about Detectives Halliday and Lavelle in future books as they remind me of some of my favorite police shows on TV. In the meantime, I am pleased to see that I already have Night Swim on my Kindle to read in the near future. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy to read and review.

I love thrillers/mysteries that make me think ‘what the heck is going on?!?!’ while I’m reading, and subsequently not want to out the book down. Stay Awake, by @megangoldinauthor, is the first book in a long time to give me that feeling - and I am HERE FOR IT! Thank you so much @stmartinspress for the #giftedbook - Stay Awake is available now!

Imagine waking up in a cab, with no idea how you got there, where you’re going, or where’ve you been. You look for your phone and find a bloody knife wrapped in a shirt. Then you try to get into your house and find out you don’t live there anymore. There’s things like ‘stay awake’ written on your hands and arms. Then you find out that it’s 2 years past the date you thought it was, and you’re wanted for murder. That’s what happens to Liv - oh and every time she falls asleep, she forgets everything all over again.

I loved this book. LOVED it. It’s exactly what I needed with my brain on back to school overload. I did figure out bits and pieces but it’s twisty enough that I was hooked completely.

3.5 stars

Memento without the satisfying twist ending.

Rating thrillers is always so conflicting. Because on one hand, I enjoyed reading this book all the way through. I found it engaging and fast-paced and exciting. But the ending was such a disappointment. It just fizzled away into nothing.

Had the ending been better, this definitely would have been at least a 4-star read. The writing was a little stilted at times, but the premise and alternating timelines and POVs kept me hooked.

I can see why this worked for a lot of people, but if you've seen or read movies/books with the same premise, this one doesn't deliver on it in any truly unique way.

~ Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review! ~

3.5 stars.

Having read The Night Swim written by this same author and loving it, I was excited to receive an advanced copy of her latest to see what else she has given us! Unfortunately, I was disappointed and this one just didn't make me want to eagerly pick the book up to see where it was going to take me.

Here we have a murder mystery/ thriller, where the main character and possible murderer has amnesia, so if unreliable main characters make your eye twitch this book will not be for you. You will really have to not focus on the likelihood of this story being possible. I struggled with this as the memory blackouts Liv suffers from were a little unbelievable and hard to wrap my mind around, especially at the beginning. I appreciate the uniqueness of this angle, but it felt unrealistic (why doesn't she just start writing everything down again?!) and also repetitive for obvious reasons. I will say as the story continues we get more of a medical explanation for her memory issues that make it somewhat believable (for me anyway).

But there is an interesting plot twist in this story! Is Liv the murderer or is she being hunted down to be murdered? I really enjoyed the detective POV chapters to help round the story out. I also thought the characters were strong. Honestly, what lacked the most was the story itself. If you've never read this author's books before I wouldn't suggest this one to be your first as I thought The Night Swim was much better.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin begins with Liv Reese, she is in a taxi and seems to have fallen asleep. When she wakes up, she has no idea where she is, how she got there, and where she was going. She assumes she was heading home, until she gets there and a stranger answers the door, and has no idea who Liv is. Liv quickly realizes something is not right, she can’t find her cell phone, but has a bloody knife in her pocket instead. She also has black writing on her hands and arms, they say “Stay Awake”, “Wake Up”, “Trust No One”. To Liv it seems she’s living in a parallel universe. Her only memories are from two years ago, she had a boyfriend, living in her brownstone with her best friend, working as a Food Editor for a trendy NY magazine, but she can’t remember one hour ago, when she woke up.
When she sees a report about a murder investigation on the local news, she recognizes herself in the video, with the same message written in the victims blood on the window as what is on her arm. Liv can’t remember anything she did last night, but why does she have what seems to be the murder weapon?
Someone knows exactly where she was, and what she did…but she knows not to trust anyone. As she tries to piece together what is happening, she realizes she has to stay awake, at all costs. When Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle are hot on her trail for the murder they are investigating, it becomes a cat and mouse game for Liv, she’s not only running rom the police, she’s also running from this mystery man who seems to want to shut her for good.
This novel was similar to the movie “Groundhog Day”, not a comedy, definitely a classic murder mystery that needs to be solved before Liv falls asleep and starts her life all over again. Liv goes back to her life from two years prior, not realizing its two years later and she has no idea what is going on. Did you get that? It’s awful to realize this can really happen, and it seems to have been caused by a traumatic event in Liv’s life, you guessed it, two years ago. But when Liv shows up at her former place of employment, obviously confused, looking for her best friend and boyfriend, why doesn’t anyone tell her what happened? Liv was obviously frantic, confused, hysterical…but everyone around her just played along. I was literally screaming in my head just tell her for crying out loud!!
It is pretty far into the book when you find out what Liv’s backstory really is, which explains a lot, but I felt it was a little predicable. I was waiting for a big crescendo of an ending, but I never got it, it seemed flat. I wasn’t a fan of Liv’s character, her ‘split personality’ of being naive and paranoid at the same time annoyed me. I really like Detectives Halliday and Lavelle, their relationship, completely platonic, was great. I enjoyed their chemistry trying to follow the clues and their suspect and understanding nothing was what it seemed.
I would like to thank Netgalley, St Martin’s Press and Megan Goldin for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am giving this three full stars plus a little extra, I may be a little more critical of this book, but only because I love Megan Goldin’s other novels. Others may find my review much different from others, but I know what this author is capable of.

Amazing! I loved this fast-paced psychological thriller!

Liv suffers from a rare form of amnesia and can't recall her life when she wakes up -- this makes every time she wakes a stressful time. This has been going on for 2 years and she cannot recall these last years of her life. She tries to stay awake and writes messages to herself on her arms and hands so she sees them as soon as she wakes, but often they are cryptic and don't mean much. Add to this that Liv wakes with blood on her hands and cannot recall what happened. Then the media states that a man has been murdered and on the window of the crime scene are the words 'Wake Up". These are the exact words that Liv finds on her hands every time she awakes. Police detectives, Halliday & Lavelle, are on the case and open to all evidence (or lack of evidence) as they race against the clock to find Liv and figure out the murder.

4.5 stars - loved this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

After seeing a lot of extremely positive early reviews of this book, I obtained an ARC via NetGalley and then an audio ARC as well. Unfortunately, I realized partway through that this is just not the kind of book I enjoy. Or perhaps it’s just this particular book?

Liv Reese has an unusual form of amnesia, which manifests itself as her forgetting everything about the previous two years every time she wakes up. So she tries very hard to NOT fall asleep (hence, the title of the book). She has no idea what happened over the past two years; it’s all a complete blank and she’s frightened. Every time she falls asleep, she wakes up not knowing anything about what happened the day (or the two years) before.

I found I just didn’t care about the characters. The bouncing back and forth between the “present day” and two years before, plus the bouncing back and forth in the present day from Liv’s POV and a police investigating unit, did not help the narrative flow. There was a ton of repetition, maybe to emphasize that Liz is completely at a loss every time she wakes up, but it was too much.

Why didn’t Liv go to a hospital for help or why didn’t the people she interacted with call for help for her? I guess there wouldn’t have been a book then.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. The audiobook has two distinct narrators: Imogen Church and January LaVo. I did not care for whoever narrated the Liv portions of the book. Also, I confess that I got about halfway through the book and then jumped to the last few chapters just to see “whodunit.”

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you like fast paced thrillers and don’t mind suspending your beliefs and some repetition, then give this one a go!

Imagine every time you go to sleep, you forget everything from the last 2 years. You would probably try to stay awake and figure out what the hell is going on, right?! Well that’s exactly what happens to Liv, the protagonist in Stay Awake. She experienced a traumatic event 2 years ago and as a result suffers from a specific type of amnesia. She stumbles upon a murder scene and the story takes off from there.

The chapters are short, so I found myself flying through them and I did stay awake 😁 to finish the book. Because of the nature of Liv’s amnesia, there was a lot of repetition. I get that, but it did drive me a bit crazy. A fun read, but not necessarily a stand out in my opinion. The Night Swim is still my favorite of Goldin’s.

Wow! This has got to be the most unusual book I’ve read in a long time! And, yes, I mean unusual in the best possible way! The synopsis does a very good job of setting up the storyline. Reading the reviews would be a waste of your time. Pick this book up and form your own opinion. You won’t be disappointed! This is a fast paced, engrossing read that will have you cursing life infringing on your reading time!