This was a fast, fun thriller that had me wanting to stay awake to finish it! (See what I did there?)

Liv is a bit of an unreliable narrator, since she has no memory at all of what has happened to her in the last two years. Every time she falls asleep, she wakes up like a blank slate, only able to remember answering the phone at her desk two years prior. She has written various warnings and instructions all over her body, but this tends to only confuse her further as she stumbles around New York attempting to figure out what has happened to her life and her loved ones. When Liv becomes the primary suspect in a prominent murder case, she is desperate to determine what really happened before something bad happens to her as well — is she running only from the police? Or is someone more sinister after her as well?

I devoured this story, and was very pleased with it overall. The pace is fast and the chapters are short. Most are told from either the first-person POV of Liv or the second-person POV of Detective Darcy Halliday. I do so love an unreliable narrator, and I found myself rather horrified by the thought of waking up with zero memories of my recent past. Like Fifty First Dates, but without anyone there to help you through your day. The only thing that irked me about this book was the rehashing of the same things whenever Liv woke up anew, which is arguably an essential piece to the story and truthfully really short (I'm just impatient). I recommend this read for sure!

Thank you to Megan Goldin, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I found this book compelling from the very start -- Liv Reese keeps waking up not remembering anything that has happened in the last two years. Told between alternating timelines, present day Liv and Liv in the past -- I couldn't put it down as the pieces of her story were filled in. The pace and the writing really put me in Liv's head, and I was truly able to feel how confused and frustrated she was.

This was my first book by Megan Goldin and I am excited to read her previous books and look forward to her next one! A very intriguing thriller, and I'm always a sucker for a narrator that we want to root for and trust, but also can't be too sure about.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I don't care for books that are repetitive (in this case the main character has amnesia and doesn't remember anything when she wakes up) but Stay Awake was really good other than that aspect. The main character wasn't likeable as an unreliable narrator but the suspense was really good, everything came together in the end, and I was surprised by the reveal.

Wow! What a great ride in the engaging thriller. From the beginning it keeps you guessing about the true events & the person at fault. The main character, Liv, gains your sympathy and concern - she is terrified and confused; and you feel each emotion as well.

Liv wakes up in the back of a cab with no memory of how she got there, the words "STAY AWAKE" scribbled in black pen across her hands. When she arrives at her apartment, she finds it occupied by strangers. And then she finds the bloody knife in her pocket...

Stay Awake is a pulse-pounding, paranoid, frantic thriller chronicling one woman's life as it spirals out of control in an amnesiac fever-dream. I consciously decided not to take this one too seriously -- to not overthink the more outlandish plot elements or the sheer implausibility of the entire concept. I went into this book intending to just have fun with it, and I absolutely did.

This may be my favorite of the three Megan Goldin novels I've read. Stay Awake unfolds across a few different timelines, and the structure is so effective. And it's incredibly impressive to me that Goldin was able to keep all the threads of this complex narrative straight. Although this is a plot-forward book there's still some interesting, thoughtful character development, and the ending took me completely by surprise. 3.5 stars rounded up, simply because I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

⭐⭐/5

• Groundhog Day meets mystery
• annoying protagonist
• confusing ending

I switched off between reading the physical copy and listening to the audio. The audio narration was pretty distracting to me. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress and @macmillanaudio for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC and audio! All opinions are honest and my own.

🤯 HOLY 🤯 SMOKES 🤯

This book was everything I needed and more!!!  Right from the very beginning to the very very end this book is non stop! You will be in for a treat of twists and turns galore. Agh I loved it!!! The first night I picked it up I read 50% of the book. I couldn't put it down. The only reason I did make my self put the book down was because it was so good I didn't want to be sleepy while reading it. I needed to absorb and experience every word Megan wrote! I was so invested in her amnesia and what happened every time Liv wrote up.

This is one of my top 5 thrillers of the year. HANDS DOWN!!

Liv wakes up and cannot remember anything from yesterday and in fact she has lost 2 years of her life. She realizes the police are looking for her due to a murder.
Thanks go out to NetGalley for the ARC and to the publisher MacmillanSpecialMarkets.

Loved this thriller so much I read it in one sitting on a cross country flight. Not wanting to spoil this amazing read for others, the only thing I will share is the main character, Liv, experiences a total loss of memory each time she falls asleep. Of course there is a murder involved and poor Liv is definitely connected. Stay Awake is absolutely the perfect title.
The story is told from both Liv’s perspective and that of an astute detective, Halliday, who is investigating the murder. Megan Goldin slowly peels away the layers of onion skin revealing details that lead the reader down various paths only to come to a dead end. The action is taut and well paced, keeping the reader totally engaged throughout. I am looking forward to another book featuring Halliday and her partner.
Four and one half stars for this gem. Many many thanks to Megan Goldin, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for affording me the absolute pleasure of reading an arc of this soon to be published book. I am eagerly awaiting the next book from this gifted author.

Another just okay thriller. I am bummed because I was really excited to receive an ARC by this author from the publisher. I loved Night Swim so much and I just sadly keep striking out with her books since I read that one. I actually had a feeling I was not going to love this and I wasn’t wrong. It’s like a Memento/50 First Dates/Groundhog Day mashup, basically. I did not have a clue what was going on for over half of the book and not in a good way. It really did not hold my interest very well. Once I figured out the plot, I was easily able to predict whodunit and why, so that was disappointing. The main character seemed really young to me and it was hard to come to like her because of the amnesia and how she handles situations. Since the MC has amnesia, it also becomes difficult to like any of the characters surrounding her because you don’t know who is shady vs who is genuinely trying to help her. I did like the character of Detective Halliday, though, so that was a plus. I have one more book in the author’s backlist; hoping that one’s a winner.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Liv has a rare form of amnesia. When she falls asleep, she forgets everything and is living in the past--two years ago. The book starts with her awaking in the back of a cab with a bloody knife. Of course, she can't remember what happened or why she has the knife. Liv looks at her hands/arms and sees writing that says, "Stay Awake."

We also get Detective Halliday's POV, who is investigating a murder. Written in blood at the scene are the words "Stay Awake." This does not look good for Liv. Soon, she is caught in the middle of the murder.

This story is told in Liv's point of view in the present and in the past, two years ago. Sometimes, this was confusing. We also get Detective Halliday's point of view as she and her partner are trying to solve this case.

What I liked:
I liked the short chapters. (always a plus)
I also liked the young detective. She is smart and determined to prove herself on this case. I enjoyed her point of view a lot.

I liked this story well enough, but it didn't feel too original to me. I felt like I had seen or read this somewhere--either on television, movie or another book. I know I am an outlier on this book, because so many people loved it. It just wasn't the thriller for me.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I am a big fan of Megan Goldin and was giddy to get my hands on this book.

Stay Awake follows main character Liv, who can't remember anything that happened the last two years. Last she remembers is waking up at her desk and now, she has no clue what is happening. She hardly even recognizes herself. Every time she falls asleep, her mind basically resets. All she knows is she has "STAY AWAKE" written all across her hands among other notes.

At the same time that we are introduced to Liv, a murder occurs in the city. On the window of the murder scene writes STAY AWAKE. Is Liv connected?

First off, I loved the premise of this book. What a great idea for a thriller! But the book goes so much deeper than this. Not only can Liv not remember her own life and there is a murder trying to be solved, but the events that have happened over the last few years in her life are a thriller in themselves.

I loved the many different plot lines happening from the different stories unfolding to the dueling timelines.

4.5 stars!

This is the first time in a while that a mystery/thriller really hit the mark for me. The premise was super interesting, and though I'm not usually a fan of the unreliable narrator trope, I think this one was done exceptionally well. I often feel like unreliable narrators are used when authors want to include some really horrific plot lines or events and need a cop-out to write those scenes. Enter: the unreliable narrator that we can all point to and agree is a terrible person, and so therefore the traumatic plot line could never be the fault of the author. STAY AWAKE is not like that in the slightest. The main character of this book was unreliable because of memory loss, not because of any character deficiency. The memory loss made the story frustrating and intriguing and sad and wild simultaneously, which I found I enjoyed.

My one gripe: I beg BEG BEG the editors to go through the writing in this book and count every adjective or adverb or description, and for every 10 adjectives, delete nine. There were some really truly basic and mundane things that were described in a just clunky way. Like: Americano brown hair or this sentence in the first chapter: "I stare hypnotically out the window as city lights streak by against a blanket of darkness, lulled by the pensive hum of the car radio." It's just so many words for someone zoning out in the backseat of a cab?

Some details or moments were included in the story that didn't seem to have any purpose as well, but I could mostly ignore those. I feel like this book would benefit from a few more pass throughs of editing and some plot restructuring, but I am obviously no expert. HOWEVER, the story was good enough and the characters interesting enough to me that it didn't make too much of a difference to me.

Daily amnesia, a bloody knife and danger abound in this fast paced thriller. Liv Reece is in trouble and she can’t remember the last two years of her life. What’s worse is every time that she falls asleep, the amnesia starts all over again. Piecing together that she is both in danger, AND being sought after by the police for murder, Liv must figure out who to trust and who not to trust before it’s too late.
Fans of contemporary “memory loss” thrillers will enjoy this one.
~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher

Stay Awake was a very…..weird, crazy story. Not weird or crazy in a bad way.
The main character, Liv, seems to have lost memory of the last 2 years of her life. Sound intriguing? I know I had to keep turning the pages to try and figure out the twists and turns this story takes.
Honestly, I liked the police detective characters more then the main character. I would like to see the detectives in their own series.
Overall, Stay Awake is a suspense crime thriller that I did enjoy though not so much the ending.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions and thoughts expressed are my own.

What It's About: Liv Reese wakes up in a back of a taxi with no recollection of how she got there. She finds a bloodstained knife in her pocket and her hands are scribbled with messages: STAY AWAKE. Meanwhile, Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavalle are called to investigate the homicide of an unidentified man, where on the apartment's window were written the words: WAKE UP - in blood.

My thoughts: This was my third book by Megan Goldin and let me tell you - IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! She is my auto-buy author now!

I loved the plot which I find really intriguing and it kept me guessing throughout the story. I really have no idea how it will end but I did guess whodunit, just not sure of the motive. The pacing was perfect and I loved the POV of both Liv and Detective Halliday equally. The investigation was filled with suspense and I loved following their investigation.

I've read and listened to this book. However, I enjoyed reading the print better as the narrator for Liv Reese wasn't for me. There were parts where her narration sounded comical and it felt like she clenched her teeth all the time while talking. I did not enjoy it at all.

Regardless, I personally think this was a solid thriller/mystery and I enjoyed it thoroughly. If you're looking for a book that will keep you at the edge of your seat, this may be the one for you!

Pub. Date: August 9th, 2022


***Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this gifted reading copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

🚨 Preorder Alert: This one releases next week—August 9. I just finished it, and it is AMAZING!!

😱 I have some very specific fears in life: heights, bugs, mayonnaise (don’t ask). Now, I fear having my memories wiped clean every time I go to sleep. Thanks, Megan Goldin.

😵‍💫 In this one, we begin with our main character, Liv, as she wakes up in a taxi before she’s deposited at her home. Nope! Not accurate. Because she doesn’t live there, hasn’t lived there in over two years. She, of course, doesn’t remember that because every time she goes to sleep she forgets everything that has happened over those last two years. ‘Tis okay though, ‘cause she’s written notes to herself on her hands, notes mainly telling her exhausted butt to…🚨 title alert 🚨…STAY AWAKE!!!

🤷‍♀️ So…what happened to her? Why is her memory holier than Swiss cheese? Y’all gonna have to read it for yourselves, but lemme tell ya, IT IS BAD!!!!

🤨 Basically, while reading, don’t trust anybody. Nobody. No one. Not a dang soul. Don’t even trust yourself. You mighta done it. Did you do it? That’s how paranoid you’ll be during this wild ride.

😳 This book, y’all!! It’s crazy tense, crazy unsettling, crazy terrifying. Y’all, the thing is crazy!!!

🤩 If you aren’t reading Megan Goldin, make it your mission. Skeedaddle down to the nearest bookstore, and grab them all. But start with this one. Just prepare to lose sleep, mainly because the book won’t let you put it down, but also because you’ll never trust yourself to make it through the process again with all of your memories in tact. You, too, will have a new fear in life! Repeat after me: Thanks, Megan Goldin!

Okay. That was a WILD ride!! I don’t think I’ve read anything like this plot before and found it so intriguing. I loved the characters and the plot kept me sitting in suspense. The dual timeline was written fabulously. I was riveted from the beginning! This was so incredibly twisty and mesmerizing. The entire tone was frantic, the plot one of urgency. The conclusion was GOOD y’all. I enjoyed this one from beginning to end. 4.5 ⭐️

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a highly recommended thriller/mystery involving memory loss.

Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi and doesn't know where she is. She gets back to her apartment only to discover strangers living there. All she knows are the messages written on her hands, with STAY AWAKE featured prominently. She has lost her phone and her bag and has a bloody knife in her pocket. She is lost and disoriented in NYC. Meanwhile the police have discovered a murdered man and are looking for who did it.

The narrative alternates between Liv in the present day, Liv two years earlier, and NYPD detective Darcy Halliday’s current homicide investigation, slowly leading up to answer what is happening to Liv. Liv thinks it is two years earlier, but clearly it isn't. She is disoriented and trying to run from something or someone but she can't remember. What she does know is that she must stay awake and avoid sleep at all costs.

Liv's character is developed, but more so in the chapters that deal with her three years before the present day memory loss. She has a stalker and feels very threatening. Her present day chapters are much more repetitious and a little off-putting. I did wonder immediately, before there was much information revealed, why she hadn't written more detailed notes to herself. She can't trust anyone. Her confusion and memory loss put her at a great disadvantage. She is a bit annoying as a character, but much of this is due, in my opinion, to her not writing more detailed notes to herself.

The final denouement is satisfying and wraps up the novel quickly. I predicted the perpetrator ahead of time, but the journey there was interesting, and full of tension and suspense. Liv is an unreliable narrator, but her search for the truth will have you supporting her and wishing for the best.

In order to enjoy this novel about memory loss you have to suspend disbelief while reading it. Trust me on this one. Next, you have to skip over all the repetitious phrases and whole paragraphs that are used in association with Liv's memory loss. If you can do both of these steps, you are going to enjoy the novel and figuring out the mystery of what really happened and what is going on with Liv. Honestly, there have been better memory loss novel and this one has an uneven start until Liv's history of memory loss was revealed..

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press via NetGalley
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

Megan Goldin is a new-to-me author, and her new novel, Stay Awake, was, without question, one of the best and most original, and most addictive psychological suspense thrillers I've read in recent memory. And speaking of memory, the loss of it by her heroine, Liv, is exactly what her novel is about, and it gets 5 stars from this reader.

Written both from her protagonist, Liv Reese's point of view, as well as that of the two police officer's trying to find her, during multiple timelines, I expected to be seriously confused, but thankfully, the author made the narrator and time/date clear at the beginning of each chapter which was a huge help.

As the novel opens, Liv wakes up in a cab with no memory of where she is or when it is. The reader is told it's Wednesday, 2:42 a.m. present day, and Liv believes she's heading back to the apartment she shares with her roommate and best friend, Amy, but has no purse, no wallet, no phone, no keys--nothing with her, and after hitting the lobby buzzer to be let inside. Her last memory is of picking up her phone at her workplace, Cultura Magazine on a hot day in July. By the time she notices that the leaves are falling off the trees on this chill early morning, it's an angry couple that finally greets her--they now live in what she believes is her apartment, and after they let her in, she realizes that nothing is the same as the apartment she remembers, the furnishings are different, her cat isn't there, the only familiar thing is the view from one window.

After being kicked to the curb, and while checking her pockets for her phone, she discovers a bloody knife wrapped in a blood-stained tee shirt, tossing it in the trash and getting into another cab to see her boyfriend, Marco. While in the cab, she notices messages written on her hand, the main one being Stay Awake, and another message the name and address of a place called Nocturnal, which is where she directs the cab driver to go.

At this point, I was just as confused as Liv, and you might be in the same state, but follow the date and time at the beginning of each chapter and as you become more and more involved in Liv's attempts to make sense of what's happening to her and why, you'll realize that the timeline of this intriguing novel, all 66 chapters of it, takes place in just over 48 hours, give or take 2 years--2 lost years for Liv, who has a rare form of amnesia, and it all makes for one of the most incredibly exciting, mind-blowing and riveting whodunits I've ever read. The writing is masterful, the plotting brilliant, and the tension never lets up until the shocking denouement I never saw coming.

In short, Megan Goldin has a new fan in this reader, and I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. It left me breathless, and eager to read more of her novels.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.