I really wanted to like this book since the plot is so interesting but so many things didn’t work for me. Liv, the main character, has crippling insomnia and amnesia after a horrific crime. They allude to her witnessing something for over half the book but you don’t know what. She wrote things on her arms to remind herself but honestly NEVER THE RIGHT THINGS. the pacing was so boring. I was stuck in a repetitive loop with Liv. I felt like I was losing my mind as well. The book is saved by the last 1/4 of it when they finally answer questions instead of circling the same block for so many pages. I wish it would have been paced better for my and liv’s sake. There were also some answers given but I still have questions. Why the stalking, why the murder?

Can we just stop for a moment and give a big round of applause to Goldin?!
Because she has done it again!
Hands down one of the best books I have read this year.
I found this book to be captivating, hard to put down, intriguing and thought provoking.
Another nail-biting from Megan Goldin.
This story will keep you on the edge of your seat as the plot cleverly twists and turns and your brain frantically tries to unscramble what is going to happen next.
The characters and the story are perfectly developed to keep the reader's interest and build the suspense throughout.
Goldin has written an addictive and entertaining thriller that will have you up so late at night rushing to finish this phenomenal new thriller!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

St. Martins Press
Thank you for your generosity and gifting a copy of this approved eARC!

Having loved The Night Swim, I was super excited for this ARC! Stay Awake did not disappoint as a thriller. From the first chapter of meeting Liv and finding out she has no idea where she is and what is going on, it hooked me into its story. The shift in points of view from Liv's first person to the third person of the detectives was a great way to help piece together what was happening.

This one started out strong for me right out the gate. The protagonist is suffering from amnesia, but the author still creates a full, three dimensional character - and you can feel the tension and anxiety she feels throughout.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy to read and review.
All opinions are my own.

This was such a good book! Liv Reese has no memory of the past 2 years of her life. Murders, betrayals, and much more happens, all while Liv has to try to piece everything together. I really enjoyed this read, 4/5 stars. Thanks so much @NetGalley for the ARC!

Megan Goldin does it again! Her third thriller is definitely her best, and it just might end up being my favourite thriller of the year!

I started this book and could not put it down until I was finished. I wouldn’t have been able to let it go, even if you tried to wrench it from my cold, dead fingers.

This book is such an original spin on the amnesia trope. Nothing that the heroine, Liv, sees or remembers can be trusted. She suffers from short-term memory loss. Every time she sleeps, her brain resets, and her most recent memory is something that happened over two years ago. And trust me, a lot can happen in two years.

The book has a unique narrative style. We have a present day timeline told by Liv in first person, but we also have a timeline of the events that happened to her two years ago. The first flashback came upon me as a reader so suddenly, that I was almost confused, and it felt disjointed, but it kind of perfectly fits with how an amnesiac would be feeling. On top of all of this, we have the third person point of view of detectives investigating the present-day murder, hot on her trail. But did Liv kill that man? Who was he to her? If only she could remember…


Despite the different timelines and points of view, the book is fast-paced and easy to follow. However, towards the end, we have time jumps that are a little closer together, and it was a little bit of a slower read as a result.

Like I said, the book is fast-paced, and Goldin sure knows how to paint a picture with a limited word count. I know I’m not supposed to quote an arc, but I just wanted to include this line, because it’s creepy, yet humorous, and perfectly depicts how she writes: “a face so Botoxed that he looks like a lecherous gargoyle”. Yup. I love it.

Goldin has created intriguing, three-dimensional characters. Liv is a relatable protagonist, despite the fact that few (if any) of us have suffered from this type of memory loss. But we can all feel the fear and anxiety as she experiences it, when she shows up at her home and there are other people living there. She can’t reach her best friend, her boyfriend. She goes to work, which she apparently left two years ago, and nearly all the staff has changed. She has strange messages she’s scribbled to herself on her hands and arms. Don’t trust the police. Don’t answer the door. Stay Awake.

This book is beautifully crafted, and it all comes together perfectly, like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. There are numerous twists in the plot, and Goldin kept me guessing until the end.

5 sleepless stars!

Thank you for the ARC! I was excited to read this after loving “The Night Swim”. It started out strong but fell short for me in the end. I loved the short chapters but felt like this book could have been much shorter (extra details regarding detectives irrelevant to the story/repetitive details). I did feel like it was lacking in further explanation of motive for killer in original murder and other character development. It felt like a lot of subplots at times. . Overall, I think it is a relatively fast paced thriller unlike any other concept I have read and definitely enjoyable.

I was so excited for the premise of this book. A woman forgets everything every time she falls asleep and is trying to figure out what is going on while also wondering if she is wanted for murder. What could go wrong? Honestly, it was just a little boring. The final reveal was not shocking like I was hoping to make up for the lack of twists and turns and it just didn’t. I did enjoy the dual timeline so we learn what happened in Liv’s past up to the time of the murder as well as the time after the murder. I have really enjoyed Megan Goldin’s other books so I will definitely pick up whatever she comes out with next.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi in the middle of the night with no recollection of how she got there. Arriving at her apartment, she finds someone other than her roommate living there. Her hands are covered in writing with messages including “STAY AWAKE” and she’s in possession of a bloody knife.

She has no idea why she has the knife and no idea how she got it. She starts looking for answers by trying to connect with her best friend and her boyfriend. Liv sees a news broadcast about a crime the night before and realizes that the person the police are looking for is her. She’s not sure what happened the night before, nor is she sure that she wasn’t involved. Upon seeing the date, she realizes that her last memory is two years before when she recalls answering the phone at her desk.

She needs to do whatever she can to find out the truth before it’s too late.

I enjoyed this novel and trying to piece together what had happened. It reminded me of SJ Watson’s “Before I Go to Sleep” which I also enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this eGalley. #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #StayAwake

This is my first Megan Goldin novel, and after reading this one I am super pumped to have her other books in my TBR pile.

We follow Liv who is trying to navigate her current life, but there’s a slight problem… she has a rare form of amnesia. Every time she falls asleep she forgets everything in the current. And when she awakes she doesn’t know where she is, she believes she is living her life from two years ago. She doesn’t remember coming back to NYC or why she is in a cab holding a bloody knife running from something/someone she can’t identify.

Liv’s mental state was so intriguing. I really liked the flipping between Liv and Detective Halliday’s POV, I definitely think it helped build the suspense. The ending was very suspenseful and action-packed. This book is a super quick read. I read it in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down!

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a gripping thriller that will pull you in from the beginning and keep you staying awake in the early mornings to finish. I highly recommend running & grabbing this one once it is available on August 9, 2022!

Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Goldin, & St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book definitely kept me guessing, however I did figure out who the bad guy was very quickly in this book. I thought the overall premise was interesting, however the flips backward and forward in time left me reeling a bit. It made it hard for me to follow whether something occurred in the past, or in the present and how this fit into the narrative. The disconnect with the timelines really kept me from investing completely in the story since I felt like I was flipping channels and joining in the middle of a program and I was just confused as the girl with the memory issues. This was definitely not my favorite book by this author, but I did find it to be a great premise. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wowza! That was a rollercoaster ride I was not expecting to go on! I’ll start by saying that the narrators Imogen Church and January LaVoy were phenomenal! They kept it very intriguing and fast paced and it was easy to identify which character was talking. The story itself had me on the edge of my seat! There were some nights where I was listening right before bed and got a little paranoid so I was running around my house making sure everything was locked! I loved the plot as memory is such a fascinating topic and the twists the main character continually dealt with. I would definitely recommend to anyone that enjoys psychological thrillers with an extremely unreliable narrator half of the time!

Great book. Filled with mystery and suspense. Right when you think Liv is getting somewhere she forgets and starts over again. That made me frustrated but also made me want to keep going to see what happens next.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin will make you literally stay awake into the late hours reading! This was a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller with great characters and an even greater storyline. Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi with no recollection of the last couple of years of her life and holding a bloody knife. The only clues she has: notes written all over her hands and arms, the most prominent one being STAY AWAKE. Exceptionally well written, I could not put this down and finished it in one day!! Highly recommend!!

This is an exciting fast-paced thriller. However, the conclusion of the story is kind of underwhelming. The killer could only be who it turns out to be, and the reason is immediately obvious. It is all too predictable so if you are looking for a surprising ending don't look for one here.

I will preface this review by stating that I'm not a fan of unreliable narrators as a thriller plot tool and almost didn't want to read this one! In my mind, a protagonist who has no idea where she is or how she got there seemed pretty unreliable.

However, I also enjoyed The Night Swim enough to give this a try and I am SO glad I did! Megan Goldin gives you *just enough* to keep you guessing how this story will play out and masterfully weaves a book that is both immediately engaging and leaves you some breadcrumbs, between the present-day storyline and snippets of Liv's past.

The story also mixes in the police perspective, which I really liked. You don't know you're getting that from the synopsis, but I would totally love to read Detective Halliday take on more cases for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is one of the most unique books I have ever read.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab with no memory of how she got there. She doesn't have her purse or her phone, but she does have a bloody knife. There are people who live in her apartment that she doesn't know and she's incredibly confused, and then she notices there is ink on her hands telling her to stay awake.

What unfolds from there is a delightfully twisty story of a woman who can't remember the past two years and two detectives trying to solve a murder. Liv is such an interesting character who we get to follow as she tries to piece together her life. The multiple timelines are so well done and add this incredible depth to the overall story. In addition to Liv's first-person perspective, we get third-person perspective on the detectives investigating a recent murder. The juxtaposition works so well for this story.

There are a few parts that feel just a bit predictable, but the overall twist was surprising and I didn't see it coming. The multiples perspectives really help the story move quickly without faltering for a moment. This is the type of thriller that pulls you in and keeps moving quickly. I never felt bored or like anything was dragging.

I enjoyed both The Night Swim and The Escape Room, and it's safe to say I will read anything Megan Goldin writes.

This was one wild ride as we follow Liv Reese as she tries to make sense of her life after waking up on a bench. She has a rare form of amnesia that erases her memory from the previous day so she is stuck in the past... two years in the past. The story progresses as we discover there have been multiple murders and the police are looking for her.

Multiple characters emerge and the reader is left questioning who can she trust? What really happened? I enjoyed this pageturner, although with any book dealing with memory loss, there is a bit of repetition I thought the author handled it well and still kept my interest. If you like a mystery/thriller that sends you on a loop this may be for you!

I think Megan Goldin has hit her stride with STAY AWAKE! I devoured this book in just a few days. Short chapters made me read faster, and the plot was so compelling - I had to find out what happened!

This kept me up at night, in a good way! I devoured this. Good story and pacing

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review