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!

It's "Groundhog Day" with a twist: Each time Liv Reese wakes up after falling asleep, she doesn't relive yesterday; instead, she totally forgets it - as well as the roughly 730 days that came before. The last thing she remembers, in fact, is being in her office at a big-time lifestyle magazine in New York City, planning to spend the night at home as usual with her doctor roommate, Amy. Anything she did, or anyone she interacted with over the past two years is gone.

When she wakes up in a taxi with no idea how or when she got in, she finds herself at the door of their brownstone. Problem is, Amy doesn't live here anymore - and according to the current resident, she hasn't for a couple of years. Totally confused, Liv searches her pocket for her cell phone, only to find a bloody knife. Then she sees that her hands are covered with ominous graffiti-like words and phrases like "Stay Awake."

There is, of course, a reason why the knife has blood on it. There's a reason why Amy no longer lives at the brownstone. There's even a reason for all those admonitions inked on Liv's hands. In fact, the only reason I can't figure out is why Liv is referred to by her full name just about every time she's mentioned throughout the book - that doesn't happen with the other characters. She's the only character named Liv, so surely readers will recognize her by her first name.

The constant switches in time frame and location is a little confusing as well, but the date-and-time subheads on each chapter makes that pretty easy (I admit to being guilty of not doing that, at least till I realize it's in my best interests to pay attention). Slowly, Liv realizes that it's her mind that's keeping her from seeing the big picture, but it's a medical issue she's virtually helpless to do anything about. Meantime, there are clues that she may be in danger - even if she can't avoid dozing off and forgets what they were when she wakes up.

One of her realizations is that she may be involved in a murder in a way she'd rather not admit - but a bloody message on the victim's window is, to her great dismay, the same as one of the messages on her hand. That she's a suspect is a thought shared by a couple of police officers assigned to investigate the murder. Maybe Liv is a murderer and maybe she's not, but a big question is how does she prove her innocence when she can't remember anything that would provide her with an alibi?

The whole thing is quite a thrill ride despite a bit of repetition (every time she wakes up, she has to relearn that her mind can't recall anything; readers, however, don't need quite so many reminders). The ending brought a couple of slight surprises that wrapped things up, and overall I'll give extra points for creativity and attention-holding writing. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

3.5 ⭐️: The premise of Stay Awake was fascinating. I requested it as soon as I read it. The book had the potential to be outstanding!

All in all, it was a decent thriller, I just think it could have been a better. I found the whole book to be very uneven: sometimes I was fully invested in the story and, at other times, I skimmed some parts because it dragged too much.

Also, I thought the reasons the MC gave for not going to see the authorities were far-fetched. I understand that, if she did, there would've been no story to tell, but I wish her reasons were more compelling.

At least, I was satisfied with the ending and I tend to be difficult! And I liked the two detectives who were investigating.

💤 A R C • R E V I E W 💤
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Title: Stay Awake
Author: Megan Goldin
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (Rounded up to 5 on NetGalley, GoodReads and Amazon)
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Happy Pub Day to this absolute gem of a thriller!
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The hype is most definitely real with this one, I devoured this one in one night and absolutely loved it!
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Told in a dual time line in the span of 1 day but also 2 years ago in the past this one will grab you right from the start and have you wondering what the hell is going on until the very end. I had absolutely no idea where this one was going to take me, but it was a wild ride. It was fast paced and kept my attention the entire time. This is also told in a dual point of view which is a huge plus for me.
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I was gripped by the mystery of the entire story, I wanted to know what happened to Liv two years ago that caused her lapse in memory, but also I wanted to figure out who was responsible for the newest murder. There was never a point while I was reading this one that I had any inkling of who was behind everything, my head was constantly spinning with new information. This one had my heart racing and my anxiety at an all time high and it was everything I wanted! The ending hit me like a stack of bricks and I was FLOORED! Seriously this one was such an incredible rollercoaster, my attention was capture from the first page and I couldn’t put this one down!
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Okay, so since I loved it so much, then why not 5 stars? Well my nit-picky ass had one beef which knocked me down half a star (sorry Megan) - I wish there was more explanation into the motive. It’e easy enough to figure out on your own, sure, but I like my books wrapped up all nice and tight without making me “assume” the motive. But again, this is me being a nit-picky little asshole.
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Overall, this book was incredible, I’m so happy I was gifted an eARC of this one because let me tell you friends - this one is worth every second of your time. Don’t sleep on this one (haha pun definitely intended), it releases today! Huge thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
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What do you do if you have trouble sleeping?
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#advancedreaderscopy #arcreview #earc #fouranahalfstarbookreview #bookreviewbysteph #accioliteraryescapebookreviews #netgalleybookreview #netgalleyarc #amnesia #multiplepointsofview #multipletimelines #thepastmeetsthepresent #thrillingread #pubdaybookreview #pubday #stayawake #megangoldin

Happy Pub Week to @megangoldinauthor 🖤 She has written another fantastic thriller that has some shocking twists! I highly recommend reading this crime thriller novel, especially if you like books that are fast-paced, have dual POVs, have a badass female detective character, and include mind-blowing twists.

The plot involves Liv, who wakes up in the back of a taxi with no memory of how she got there. Her phone is missing, but there is a bloody knife in her pocket. She also has notes written all over her hands/arms telling her to STAY AWAKE! The investigation that ensues to find Liv and determine if she is a murderer will keep you awake at night in order to read one more chapter!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

This is a book which demands your full attention, we have all been where central protagonist Liv, has been, at the start of the novel, where our last memory could have been mere minutes ago and yet the evidence around suggests that a long stretch of time has passed.

However, unlike the rest of us suddenly caught off guard by the change of seasons or a lapse in time, Liv finds herself in a  taxi, with hair longer than she remembers it being, much colder than the summer scene she imagines where she answered her work phone in her position of journalist at Cultura magazine.

Also.she has writing all over her hands and arms telling her to stay awake, don't fall asleep, because,when she falls asleep she forgets everything that happened in the last 2 years and 3 months.4

As she, and us, the readers, try to piece together the events that escape her, and what involvement she has in a murder with those eponymous words painted in blood on the window, we have Darcey Halliday, a police detective determined to make her mark on her first case. With a covert past that she is not quick in revealing to her fellow police, she is involved in a murder which defies description and which might involve Liv.

As Darcey and Liv frantically work to solve who is after Liv and who murdered this unidentified man, the novel flips the clock back prior to Liv's memory loss where she is being potentially stalked, is losing her grip on reality, and is exposed to some truly traumatic performance art. As the plot bubbles with barely concealed malice and suspense, we, the readers, are trying to understand Liv's mindset as a potentially unreliable narrator of her own experiences. She has an encounter with a waiter who then goes on to repeatedly contact her at work, mysterious steps following her down the road on dark nights, things moved around in her apartment...all these tings lead to an increasingly fractured gap in reality .

Whether Darcey will be able to help her is debatable as first of all, she has to find Liv !

I was completely gripped by the narrative, Darcey has such a firm presence ,and Liv whilst she is desperately scrabbling in the dark, has this core strength which is telling her firstly not to trust anyone and secondly, determination to work out just why she falls asleep and forgets absolutely everything...

This is such an engaging novel, it is a great thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed and did not guess what was coming at any point!

4.5 stars

Having now read three books by Megan Goldin, she has earned a spot among my favorite thriller writers. She has a knack for coming up with an interesting premise that hooks me right away. Stay Awake was a total binge read and pretty much nailed everything I love about this genre.

The story has a bit of a Memento vibe in that the main character can't remember stuff and has to write little reminders. Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi having no clue how she got there. STAY AWAKE is written on her hand. As if that isn't strange enough she is also in possession of a bloodstained knife. The story alternates between the present with Liv trying to figure out what the heck is going on and the past, specifically two years ago when Liv was living in NYC with her best friend and working as a writer at a magazine.

The publisher synopsis is more detailed but I think it's way more fun to go into this book without knowing too much ahead of time. As a reader you have a sense of being in the dark much like the lead character as it's hard to figure out the whole picture. But that's what makes it a good read, right? You just have to exercise some patience as the author gives you more and more of the backstory. Now I might not have been blown away at the ending, but it's still belongs in the decent category.

A popcorn thriller which I consider a high compliment.

Nearly a 5 star read. The premise centered on amnesia, which is a typical trope, but it was done in a unique way. I did not guess the perpetrator or what the heck was going on until the last quarter or so. I was super hooked in the first half, but the second half dragged just a bit. Which is why it didn't quite reach 5 stars. But Goldin is still an auto-buy author and I still highly recommend this thriller (and her others)!

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for a free digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Do you have sleeping problems? You all know that I am a major insomnia person and it was not lost on my that I was reading Stay Awake on my kindle at 3am….

But at least if I was not sleeping and stressed about yet another long work day on not enough sleep, I was thoroughly entertained by this twisted psychological thriller. It is the story of Liv, a woman who wakes up in the back of a taxi and has no idea who she is and how she got there but instead of her phone, she has a bloody knife with her. She slowly starts to piece together that she suffered a traumatic experience a couple of years prior and when she falls asleep, she forgets everything. Oooo, this was exciting and stressful and just so clever. I loved finding out Liv’s memories in real time as she started to figure out what was happening. I loved not knowing who to trust and constantly thinking I had it solved (I did not…). I loved the dual timeline giving red herrings along the way. This is a quintessential page turner where you cannot stop reading because you must know what happened. Thank you so much to @stmartinspress for my gifted copy.

Stay Awake is the first book I've read by Megan Goldin. After this crazy thrill ride of a book, I can guarantee you I will be following this author!

Liv Reese falls asleep in a taxi, and when she wakes up she goes to enter her apartment...except someone else is living there. Stuck out in the cold, she goes to pull out her phone, except she doesn't have her phone. What she does have, however, is a bloodstained knife. And then she sees words written in ink all over hands, and the phrase STAY AWAKE. Just what is going on?! Two years ago Liv was living with her best friend, dating a handsome man and working for a trendy magazine. Now she's adrift in New York, not understanding just what is happening to her. And then she sees accounts of a murder that has occurred; at the location, the words STAY AWAKE are written with the victim's blood across a window. What did Liv do last night, and why can't she remember anything from the past two years? Liv is now a suspect for a crime she doesn't remember committing...but someone else knows what Liv did.

Truly, this book was CRAZY weird and exciting! It might just be one of the most unique thrillers I've read in a while. Liv had a severe trauma two years ago, and she developed a type of dissociative fugue. However, instead of one fugue episode, she develops a series of repetitive fugue episodes. Simply put, the episodes begin every time Liv wakes up and end every time she falls asleep. When Liv wakes up, the last thing she remembers is answering the phone at work; but that occurred two years ago! It's quite the wild premise, and one that took me a while to get the hang of. The story's timeline jumped back and forth between two years ago and the present. The present story is split between Liv's viewpoint and that of Detective Darcy Halliday, one of the detectives on the case. Once I began to feel the rhythm of the story I got to the point I didn't want to put it down. Liv is a sympathetic character, and her confusion is portrayed brilliantly. You can feel her fear of being utterly lost is knowing she's somehow involved in a murder, but not remembering a darn thing about it! Who can she trust? I also loved the characters of Detective Halliday and her partner in this investigation, Jack Lavelle. I can honestly say I had no freaking idea whodunit until it was revealed! I just KNEW I figured it out. Nope. Not even close! If you want a truly unique thriller to read, this is it!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I was graced with both an ARC for the ebook and an early copy of the audio for this. That's a win-win for me because I love being able to bounce back and forth between the two mediums. In this particular situation, however, I primarily ended up reading it and stopped listening to the audiobook early on. I did not enjoy the narration. As a matter of fact, if that had been my only option for completing the book, I'm not sure I could have done it.

The premise of Stay Awake is that the main character, Liv loses her memories every time she falls asleep. When she wakes up, she can't remember anything that has happened over the last two years and a few months. It's like her memory does a hard reset to a specific point in time and can't move past it. As the novel progresses, you discover that Liv had found ways to work through it previously and was living a somewhat productive life, albeit still missing time apparently. Yet, something must have happened to trigger the extreme downfall she is currently suffering at the opening of the book because she is completely lost and doesn't know where she is. The people she thinks are in her life are nowhere to be found and complete strangers seem to know who she is and her situation.

I thought this was clever and well-done. At some points it does feel like overkill. We get that she has a chunk of time she can't remember so it's frustrating being told over and over. It makes sense that Liv will repeat facts over and over when she's the narrator because it's her life and she's struggling. However, as the reader, it gets redundant and tedious. Regardless, I was hooked on the book. I simply had to know what the full story was. Even though I put bits and pieces together before things were revealed, I didn't figure the entire twist out. That's an accomplishment because I typically do.

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

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I stopped listening to the audiobook early on because of my dislike for one of the narrators (the one doing Liv's voice specifically). I found it to be over the top and simply could not listen to the entire book like that. I don't want to negatively impact the subject of the audiobook by my negative impression of one narrator's voice so I'm still giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

Lately thrillers have been hit or miss for me and I was nervous going into Stay Awake. However, I should not have worried about it because I was hooked from the first few chapters. Told in two POVs plus a past time line, Stay Awake follows Liv trying to put the pieces together after she wakes up in the back seat of a cab with a bloody knife.

Short chapters plus some very unreliable characters made this book fly by! I normally can pick up twists before they come but I was kept on my toes with this one. I really enjoyed the past time line and the detective POV the most but overall this was a very solid thriller. I have also added Megan Goldin to my auto buy list because I have loved everything she has written.

What an engrossing, heart pounding psychological thriller. It’s a fascinating, exciting, action packed mystery. The well developed plot was mind blowing and twisted. It’s full of tension and suspense. It just got better with each page. The villain was a well kept secret. This is a must-read. *this was a complimentary copy via NetGalley and this is my honest review*

This story had my attention from the very first sentence. Why does Liv have no memory of the situation that she is in? Of course after that, I had to keep reading. And then the fact that she must stay awake or she loses even more of her memory.

Stay Awake is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat read that you will not want to put down. Can Liv get to the bottom of her trauma before she falls asleep again or will she have to start all over, trying to figure out what is going on?

I highly recommend Stay Awake! I can honestly say it's one of the best thrillers I've read this year. You'll get sucked in, just like I did, and you are going to love it.

Wow, I could not put this down! The story really sucked me in as we try to figure out what happened to Liv in the present and what happened in the past. Every reveal was great and I never once guessed who was after her.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she tries to enter her building she realizes she doesn't have her keys. She rings the buzzer hoping her roommate is home when strangers answer. She's confused when they let her know that they live there. She also doesn't have her phone on her so she decides to head to her boyfriend's apartment. But she does notice all the writing on her hands. STAY AWAKE the most prominent on her skin.

Two years ago, Liv was living her best life. Her best friend was her roommate, she was in love with her boyfriend and her career as a writer was really taking off. Nothing is what she remembers. She catches a news report about a recent crime when she sees a message she also has on her hands. Then a blurry camera still of her leaving the apartment building where the crime took place. She can't remember what happened last night and she can't remember the last two years of her life either.

She heads to a bar because the name is written on her skin. There she's able to locate where she's been staying and nothing there is familiar. There are notes everywhere reminding her to stay awake, and to trust no one, especially the police when she receives a phone call. The man on the line is asking her where the knife is and that the police are looking for her. She hears heavy footsteps approaching her apartment instinct tells her it's him and she flees.

As detectives put together what's been going on, they learn what caused Liv to leave New York, they learn she's suffering from a severe type of amnesia, which gets worse the less she sleeps. They also learn the crime scene victim knew Liv and feared for her safety. Will they be able to find her before anything else happens?

Thank you so much to the author, St. Martin's, and NetGalley for this ARC to review!

Absolutely obsessed with this book! As a reader, I found myself rooting on both the main character, Liv, who appears to have been involved in a crime, and the detective, Halliday. This book follows Liv as she navigates a dangerous situation in where she completely forgets the past 2 years every time she falls asleep but knows she is potentially involved in a murder. This psychological thriller is filled with creepy moments that made me want to turn on the lights, paranoia, and overlap of flashbacks with the current plot. I spent the entire books trying to figure out "whodunnit", which is what I want out of a thriller.

The tension of this book will keep you up, trying to figure out what is going on, and is Liv a criminal or murderer, or is she being framed?


Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

How do you write a book and solve the mystery when the main character keeps forgetting? Very cleverly! This book is written from both Liv's POV as well as the detectives trying to solve the mystery of a man found murdered in his bed, and all the clues point to Liv. But every time Liv dozes off she forgets everything that has happened to her in the last two years, and Megan does a fantastic job at showing this side of Liv, so much so that each time she would forget I would get very frustrated and scared because she didn't remember. The book alternates between her current mind-altered forgetful state and the Liv from two years ago, along with alternating chapters working alongside the detectives trying to find Liv as she is a suspect in a murder case. The three timelines come together fabulously to tell the truth about what happened and I have to say I never saw the bad person coming. After the fact I can see that it was hinted at very cleverly and I missed it. Way to go, Megan. Also, as a person who reads a lot of detective books I really appreciated that the two in this book worked very respectfully with each other and toward the same goal of solving the crime, even though they believed two different things. This was a fast read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This was my first book Megan Goldin and I look forward to reading more of her work.