Why my nose was in this book:
A unique spin on a story centered on murder and memory that blurred the lines between fact and fiction
MC Liv was the most unreliable narrator, especially because I wasn’t completely convinced that her memory was wiped - was she a victim?
It was fun donning my detective cap and playing alongside Liv, as she struggles to understand her memory loss, a murder, and the mystery person trying to get in touch with her
It was funny how she went back to her old workplace and they just accepted her walking around multiple days, like she was still an employee!

Thank you to @netgalley for my advance copy! I am obsessed with @megangoldinauthor so I was stoked!

I literally could not stop reading this one. When I took a break, it was all I thought about. It is so expertly plotted that it literally kept me awake (see what I did there) and done with such precision it really evoked a tense and suspenseful vibe while I read it. I think I lost some fingernails in the process lol

Told in multiple timelines, you really had to pay attention to what was going on. I felt it help keep me on my toes and guessing even though I did not predict the ending in the slightest. There are a few red herrings here and there but it was so masterly crafted that my head was spinning and had no idea what was going on. I really enjoyed how the ending came about. It wasn’t super shocking but it did not need to be either because the whole story was exciting.

Definitely different there your average thriller with very big Memento vibes.

This gripping thriller kept me glued to the pages. It reminded me of <i>Fifty First Dates</i> or <i>Before I go to Sleep</i> with the repetition.

Liv Reese is stuck in a horrible time loop where every time she goes to sleep, she forgets everything that has happened for the past two years. You can't help but feel sorry for her pain and disorientation. When we first join her she is in the back of a cab at night - doesn't know where she is or where she was going. She has no idea how she got there. There is writing on her hands. The words STAY AWAKE are promient - however, she doesn't know why it's written on her hands and she doesn't know what it means. And then she finds a bloody knife in the pocket of her cardigan. She goes to her apartment, only to find other people living there and her roommate Amy doesn't live there either.

Detective Darcy Halliday is called to the scene of a murder. The words STAY AWAKE are written on the window in the victim's blood. She and her partner are on the case.

Liv sees the news about the murder on television and notices the message on the window and compares it to the message on her hands. Was she involved in a murder? She did have that bloody knife....

This story unfolds from two narrators, Liv and Darcy. There are also two timelines, before Liv lost her memory and the present. The story is tense and gripping. Liv's condition is heart-breaking. The police investigation is interest, to say the least.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on August 9, 2022.

Amnesia stories are tricky to pull off and this one was a miss for me. Irritating main character, lots of plot holes, and a ridiculous ending.

What an interesting premise, when you fall alseep you lose your memory for the last two years due to a traumatic event. So, what if that event puts you in danger? When you do fall alseep and then wake up, how do you know who it is you are supposed to trust? The suspense builds as events are revealed. The only question I have that I wished was answered (although I can guess) is what was the motive behind the initial crime? Fans of fast-paced suspense/thrillers will enjoy Megan Goldin's new release. Aug 2022.

What an interesting premise, when you fall asleep you lose your memory for the last two years due to a traumatic event. So, what if that event puts you in danger? When you do fall asleep and then wake up, how do you know who it is you are supposed to trust? The suspense builds as events are revealed. The only question I have that I wished was answered (although I can guess) is what was the motive behind the initial crime? Fans of fast-paced suspense/thrillers will enjoy Megan Goldin's new release. Aug 2022.

What an interesting premise, when you fall alseep you lose your memory for the last two years due to a traumatic event. So, what if that event puts you in danger? When you do fall alseep and then wake up, how do you know who it is you are supposed to trust? The suspense builds as events are revealed. The only question I have that I wished was answered (although I can guess) is what was the motive behind the initial crime? Fans of fast-paced suspense/thrillers will enjoy Megan Goldin's new release. Aug 2022.

Oh no, the dreaded three stars...

What I Liked
This is a cleverly plotted mystery, I actually did not guess the identity of the villain before it was revealed. I didn't have a huge amount of buy in for the motive, but I can set that aside for the fact that in the end, I appreciated the way things turned out.

I really liked the portions involving the police officers and their process for trying to figure out who committed the murder in the beginning of the book. I appreciated that the author didn't make the male/female cops automatically start a romantic relationship, this book was much better for having zero romance.

What Didn't Work
I was constantly annoyed by Liv's character. I listened to most of this as an audiobook, and the narrator didn't really help. Her portrayal of Liz was more frantic and hysterical than it needed to be. (On the flip side, the narrator for the police detective was fantastic) I kept thinking--so you have this medical condition that makes you forget everything when you fall asleep. Instead of checking yourself into a hospital or making sure you have someone with you at all times, you write "Stay Awake" on your hand instead and then run willy nilly all around town trying to make sense of things over and over? I would think that the medical professionals would put her on a psych hold because she was a danger to herself, or that she could recognize that she needed help.

The reveal of Liv's backstory was way too slow. I (and most readers I assume) had already figured it out long before the police thought to pull her old files and see what the heck happened to her two years previously. Things could have been wrapped up and solved much more quickly had they done a bit of research.

At risk of going on too long and sounding like a broken record, I thought Liv was just too naïve and trusting about certain things, and then overly paranoid about others.

Even though I have many cons about this book, it wasn't a bad read for me. I was invested in the story and thought that in the end it had a decent conclusion. I'm a fan of Goldin's books and will definitely read another one in the future.

Riveting thriller about a women with amnesia who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. I enjoyed the different narratives, but sometimes I was confused which timeline was taking place. Great ending too! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

this was an arc so no spoilers!! i liked this book. it was a fun and consuming read though i will say some of the twists and reveals have me little to no excitement. there were plots i wish had been followed up on more and i feel like the conclusion was not the best conclusion the book could have possible had? idk it was still def an enjoyable read though.

SPOILERY STUFF AHEAD:
graham being the killer just didn’t sit right with me i’m sorry!! came out of absolutely nowhere with him being allegedly a nice guy at the beginning. i also thought the memory stuff became a little bit hard to follow at some points but it was an interesting device. ok that’s all for my thoughts!!

This was my first thriller by Megan Goldin and I was intrigued! At first. Premise- Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab and has no memory of the last two years. Written on her hands is the phrase: Stay Awake.
The reader slowly learns, along with Liv, what led up to her memory loss, who is after her and why she is wanted for murder. While I enjoyed it, it was easy enough to put down and come back to later. And the ending was blah.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital arc of this book.

Liv wakes up in a taxi with no recollection of how she got there. The last thing she remembers is answering her phone at her desk. She has writing on her hand with messages to stay awake. She goes to her apartment only to find other people living there. The man at the bodega and the bartender at Nocturnal seem to know her but she would swear she never met them. When ever Liv wakes up she loses any recollection of the day before and no memories of the last two years but she has a sense that she is in danger. This story grabbed me right from the beginning. Told from her point of view and of the police detective, Darcy Halliday, it was easy to get both sides of the story and keep me turning the pages. I had no idea who the killer was until the very end but once it was revealed things wrapped up rather quickly. I got to the end and kept tapping my kindle thinking there had to be more. Like why the killer did it. How did he set Liv up and again why? It could have been five stars but for that.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy.

What a scary concept 😳 I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to wake up every day with no memory of the past two years.

I did enjoy this one but I found the repetitiveness to be a little annoying even though I know that’s kinda the point. I liked Liv and I thought it was interesting to follow her around & watch her try to navigate her once familiar life.

I Just finished Stay Awake by Megan Goldin and here is my review.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab, with no memory of what happened to her. No phone, no credit cards, someone else living in her apartment and a wad of cash in her pocket.. And a knife. Her arms and hands covered in writing, STAY AWAKE.

Liv has no memory of the last 2 years. She was living the life with a boyfriend and being a successful writer. She sees the news about a horrific murder… A murder where the words STAY AWAKE are written in the victims blood.

What happened the night before? Did she have something to do with the murder? Or is someone sending Liv a message?

When I got a copy of this book I was interested. By the time I got to the 2nd chapter I was hooked.
Liv was the victim of a terrible crime and moved to get away from it. When her memory starts to fail her, she returns to the place where it all happened. The problem is Liv’s memory resets when she falls asleep and she believes she is 2 years in the past.
The whole book is her trying to figure out what happened, who she can trust, yet when she falls asleep, she loses anything she does find out. It was brilliantly written. I love the pace, it was fast right where it needed to be and then slowed for the most dramatic punches it hits you with.

I felt like I was on a rollercoaster blind folded and I got the feeling we were supposed to feel how Liv felt during the times with no recollection of what was going on and I have to say I really enjoyed the mild disorientation.

I did feel the ending didn’t fully explain why it all went down the way it did. I don’t want to spoil it for you so I won’t say anymore but I would have liked to have known the reason for it. What we do know, doesn’t explain such a gruesome thing to happen. I never did piece together all of it by the time the book ended which thrilled me no end.

4.5 stars just because I have unanswered questions but seriously, this book!!!

If you love an unreliable narrator that is original and not the same trope over and over again, then this has to be your next read. Out to buy Aug 9th!

Thank you to netgalley and St Martin's press for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

WOW this completely surprised me. After liking but not loving The Night Swim, I went into this book with medium expectations. I was still a bit unsure about it for the first couple of chapters, but the uncertain feeling the author gives the reader completely drew me into the story.

I've been reading a lot more thrillers over the last couple of years, but this one was completely different from any other that I've read. I'm not sure how I've read this many thrillers without coming across the amnesia trope, but this is somehow the first I've read and it was amazingly done.

I've also loved the unreliable narrator trope in the past, but a few books that I've read in the last year or two made me question that. This book brought that love back for me. With the narrator's amnesia and her possible involvement in a murder, I feel like the author put me right in her shoes and I felt just as uneasy and confused as her. The reader literally discovers what has happened as the narrator gets her memories back and through flashbacks.

Perfect for anyone looking for a fast paced book that will make their skin crawl at times!

2.5 stars - I thought this would be a fun, quick thriller but it was actually quite drawn out and slow/boring in the beginning. On top of being generally unrealistic (which I can typically get past and suspend belief for), it was also predictable - there was no surprising twist at all.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for honest opinions.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin indeed had me reading past my bedtime.

Liv Reese wakes confused and disoriented in the back of a cab en route to her shared brownstone apartment. When she reaches her apartment, nothing goes as expected. A pair of strangers answer her door, claiming to have lived there for years, and who subsequently push Liv out onto the street.

Liv’s last memory is answering her office phone on a sunny afternoon. Now, there’s a noticeable chill in the air, strange messages scribbled on Liv’s arms telling her to stay awake, and an ominous bloody knife she’s found in her pocket, which she suspects may be linked to a murder she saw on the news.

While the police investigate the murder case, Liv desperately tries to piece together her memory of the last two years and learn more about this murder.

This tense psychological thriller has alternating timelines and multiple POVs.

This thriller was a compelling and equally frustrating read for me. I needed to find out how everything would turn out for Liv, but I also could not stop clenching my teeth at the sheer repetitiveness of it all. The same information kept getting regurgitated, almost verbatim, page after page. It makes sense that Liv would be stuck on square one, considering her amnesia, but it did not make for the best reading experience. There were also a few loose ends that never got resolved.

Overall, I did find the story entirely gripping. I could not put it down. I can see why Megan Goldin’s books are so popular, and I will definitely be checking out her backlist soon.

3.5.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

Stay Awake certainly kept me awake late at night so I could finish it! Half of the time, I had no idea what I was reading or what would happen. The book’s description was so realistic that I found my heart racing at certain points. This is an excellent fast-paced thriller and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Megan Goldin, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Stay Awake is an entertaining thriller which moves quickly and the reader is left to put the pieces together. I loved Megan Goldin’s previous book, so I was excited to read this one. The premise is fascinating, Liv Reese wakes up with no memory and thinks she may have been involved in a violent crime. Early on we learn that there was a murder of an unknown man the night before. The second perspective is about Detective Halliday and her partner trying to solve the murder and discover the man’s identity.

The story moves quickly, but you really have to suspend disbelief when you read this one. It was a bit too unrealistic for me and I wasn’t invested in the characters or storyline. Liv is constantly panicked and afraid because of her severe memory impairment. I liked putting the pieces together and found the detective’s perspective fascinating. The story resolves neatly. I listened to the audiobook, which is dually narrated by Imogen Church and January LaVoy. I love Church’s narration of Ruth Ware’s books, but she uses an American accent for this book, which didn’t always work for me. When she quotes other characters, the accent/affectation was downright cartoonish at times. Church narrates Liv’s perspective and LaVoy narrates the detective. I absolutely loved LaVoy’s narration. I would recommend this if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this book. All thoughts are my own.

DNF. I've seen this plot done before and done better. Plus I hate books with unreliable narrators. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.