After reading this book I'm definitely going to check out her other books. I really loved this book. It was super fast paced. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The unreliable narrator made it so much better too hear all the memories popping up in her mind. I couldn't put it down.

Stay Awake by author Megan Goldin is a psychological thriller that had me guessing throughout the entire book. It’s crime fiction that starts out with a double murder and the question is, who did it and why? All the evidence leads to Liv Reese, the best friend and roommate to one victim and the girlfriend to the other. Liv feels like she’s in danger but she has a really big problem! Every time she falls asleep, she wakes with absolutely no memory of what happened before then. She’s lost the last 2 years of her life. She has messages written in pen all over her hands and arms. They warn her to stay awake and not to trust anyone. The story jumps back and forth from past to present day. It also tells the side from the 2 homicide detectives working the case. It’s a well thought out plot that kept me guessing and had me turning the pages late into the night. It isn’t until almost the very end that the killer is revealed and all the clues beforehand come together. I believe that other readers will enjoy this as much as I did. I’d like to thank NetGalley for the arc. It’s a great read, one I really enjoyed and I will be recommending it to my friends. I’m giving it a 4 star rating!

Stay Awake!

Imagine waking up in a taxi with no memory of how you got there, where you are going, or why you are now two years in the future.

Written on your hands is STAY AWAKE, along with other cryptic messages.

To make matters worse, you seem to to be the prime suspect in a murder investigation. The police are hunting you down, and you don’t remember what happened.

Scared, anxious, and alone, you must figure out who committed the murder before you fall asleep and time resets.

Meet Liv Reese.

Alternating between the past and present and through Liv and the detectives perspectives, readers will be on the edge of their seats, glued to the pages, and furiously attempting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Is it Groundhog’s Day? Did Liv time travel into the future?

My only gripe is that there appears to be a plot hole surrounding part of the MOTIVE. However, the reveal is still MOSTLY satisfying.

If you are looking for a fast paced thriller that will keep you reading long into the night, look no further.

Stay Awake is another winner from Megan Goldin!

If you enjoyed Before I Go to Sleep and Girl on the Train, this is the book for you.

4.5/5 stars rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Stay Awake in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Well, I'm a definite outlier since I didn't love Stay Awake like so many others have and as I hoped I would. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but it just didn't work for me, which was extremely disappointing since I was a huge fan of The Escape Room and The Night Swim by the author.

Liv Reese wakes up one morning in a cab not knowing how she got there since the last thing she remembers is being at work in Manhattan. Her hands and arms are covered in writing: Stay Awake, Wake Up, Don't Listen to Anyone, I Forget Everything When I Fall Asleep and more. Her phone is missing, she has no purse, no wallet, only a bloody knife. When she arrives at her Brooklyn apartment, her roommate isn't there; instead, strangers answer the door. They tell her she doesn't live there. She later wakes up again on a park bench only to wonder how she got there since, again, the last thing she remembers was being at work.

A man has just been murdered with the words Wake Up written on the window for bystanders to see. Newbie NYPD detective Darcy Halliday is called to investigate the homicide alongside long-time Detective Jack Lavelle., a loner who partners with her on the case.

Liv is stuck in a cycle of insomnia and amnesia--every time she falls asleep, she forgets the past two years of her life, so she tries whatever she can to stay awake. Her present-day chapters alternate with chapters that give flashbacks of what happened two years ago that caused Liv's amnesia and led to the murder Detectives Halliday and Lavelle are trying to solve.

I enjoyed the plot and wanted to read on to see why Liv suffered from amnesia and who the murderer was in the story, but I didn't feel pulled into the book or start reading it and find it unputdownable--in fact, it took me 6 days to read this, which says a lot since I usually read a book every 2 days! I felt empathy for Liv and her inability to remember the past and for her insomnia, but I thought she was a bit of an idiot and repeatedly did stupid things, which probably had a bit to do with my overall love of the book.

What the story does have going for it is strong characters, especially in Detective Halliday, and a fast pace. The ending was very entertaining and well-done and I rounded up my rating based on that.

My rating/review is definitely in the minority so take it with a grain of salt and make sure to read all the glowing 4 and 5 star ones because I think most, if not all, readers will enjoy this one! I'll certainly be reading Goldin's next book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

-review posted to Goodreads and Twitter on 7/22/20
-review will be posted to Amazon and Barnes & Noble on publication

Imagine waking up in a cab realizing that your last memory is over 2 years ago! And, then you discover a bloody knife in your possession, you have no idea where you live, no phone, no idea how people seem to know you and you have graffiti scribbled on your hands and arms with phrases like "wake up", "don't trust anybody"!! And, everytime you fall asleep, you lose all your most recent memories again! This is Liv Reese's current reality! Now Liv is the last person known to be with a murder victim and evidence is stacking against her and with no memories, Liv is questioning her own innocence!

Stay Awake is told from the perspective of the officers trying to solve the murder of the a mystery man and Liv going back from before the tragedy that caused Liv to loose her memory and event leading up to the murder and days following.

This book sucked me in from the first chapter! One of the best thrillers I've read this year! I guessed the plot pretty early in the book but I still couldn't put it down till I knew what Liv had been up to!

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

‘Every choice has a consequence.’

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi. She has no idea of how she got there. When she arrives at her apartment, she finds strangers living there. Her phone is missing, she has a bloodstained knife, a bundle of cash, and her hands are covered in black pen. Short, scribbled messages including ‘STAY AWAKE’.
Liv, lost and disoriented in New York City, sees reports of a crime scene. The victim’s blood has been used to write ‘STAY AWAKE’ on a window. Where was Liv last night? Liv is desperate to try to piece together her life.

‘Two years have passed, and I remember none of it.’

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend Amy and working for a trendy magazine. She had a boyfriend, and life was looking good. So, what happened?

The story shifts between past and present, between the life Liv remembers and her current search to make sense of what is happening. And the stakes are high: apparently someone tried to kill Liv two years ago. Liv is not safe and, as she fights to stay awake, her mental state deteriorates.

Well, that was a roller coaster ride! The villain may have been obvious fairly early in the story but the real hook for me was Liv’s desperation for answers during her journey through amnesia.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Have you ever felt like you were watching a train wreck happening and were powerless to stop it? You know how when you are watching a horror movie, and the dumb blonde goes down in the creepy basement, you want to shout “Don’t go down there, the killers down there! How don’t you know that?!” That tense, on the edge of your seat feeling that something very, very bad is going to happen soon? That’s pretty much the feeling I had the whole time I was reading this book. I couldn’t put it down!

Our main character is Liv; she is suffering from a rare sort of memory problem, where she forgets everything that has happened when she falls asleep. Doctors think it was due to trauma that she had suffered, but couldn’t remember. The time line flips back and forth to the last time she remembers when she wakes up, leading up to the trauma, and then to the present day while she tries to make her way with no memory of what has happened since then. The police leak CCTV footage of a suspect in a murder that happened the night before, and Liv is shocked to recognize herself on TV. What happened? How is she going to figure it out? Who is telling the truth? She has all of the questions, and time is running out to figure out the answers.

This book took me on such a mental/emotional rollercoaster and I wasn't even sure I could trust my memories about half way through. Megan Goldin does an absolutely incredible job of creating a atmospheric mystery/thriller that you are hanging on the edge of your seat the entire time. This books premise was incredibly unique and I found myself struggling to predict the ending until the last 25%, but boy did I enjoy seeing how everything came untangled and watching the main character really piece everything together.

Thoughts | This was my second Megan Goldin. I loved The Night Swim and that love spilled right over to Stay Awake.
Liv loses her memory every time she falls asleep. And without knowing who to trust, she has a very hard time navigating her current situation.
Throughout the book we learn about her amnesia, the past trauma that caused it, and the person that caused the trauma.
I loved the detectives and Liv. I also love an ending that ties things up but also leaves you knowing what may be in the future.

Trigger Warnings | Stalking, Memory Lose, Suicide in Veterans, Murder

Quotes | “Leaves fall from half-makes trees like autumnal rain.”
“The only thing I know for sure is that time has skipped ahead with without me noticing.”

Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Goldin, and St. Martin’s Press for gifting me an ARC in return for a real and honest review.

QOTD | What is your favorite flower?

AOTD | Tulips and purple iris.

Liv Reese finds herself waking up in a cab, but doesn't know how she got here. As the night unfolds, she finds people who know her and she starts to fill in the gaps, but who can she trust and what should she believe? Her journey to find her memory is complicated by a murder with a unique signature. This isn't the first story to play games with memory loss and untrustworthy characters, but it is unique. It's a fast paced thriller that I couldn't put down - if you need to "stay awake' then pick up this book, you won't want to sleep until you've finished it. And even then....
There is much to say that would spoil this, so I will simply state that this is my favorite book of the year so far. Great characters, great tempo, action and more twists and turns than a roller coaster. Each time I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I ended up listening to the audiobook instead of reading it on my kindle. This book kept me on the edge of my seat! Overall it kept me guessing with lots of fun twists & turns. Certain parts were a little repetitive & reminded me a little of the movie Memento! Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC! I’ll definitely read more by this author!

Wow! What a great thriller! I’m so happy I received this amazing ARC. I couldn’t put this book down. Megan Goldin has that way with her writing and just makes you feel that tension leaving you in awe. I never hit a lull in the story or felt like it dragged. I will keep reading anything Megan Goldin writes, she’s a genius.

This was one wild ride and I absolutely couldn't get enough! The dual POVs (Liv and the detectives) was awesome and kept me on my toes the entire time! I loved the twists and suspense and found myself playing detective and trying to solve it for myself - I was mostly unsuccessful which proves just how great this story is!

This is the first Megan Goldin book I've read. . This is one of the best page turner, twisty thrillers that I've read in quite some time.. I found the diagnosis of repetitive memory blackout a clever and interesting plot device..
I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book! I was looking forward to this one but not sure how I feel about it now. I liked the story and the idea, but there was a little too much police procedural for my personal taste that I wasn’t expecting. I also feel like I have several unanswered questions about the ending, where I didn’t think it wrapped everything up in terms of motive, the random artist Q or the stalking from two years ago?! I’m confused.

Megan Goldin is solidifying her place as a mystery/thriller queen in my books!

STAY AWAKE while sounding like it may feel a bit hokey with a main character who forgets the last two years of her life every time she falls asleep, actually delivered with an unreliable narrator that didn't piss me off. Liv's condition was triggered by a horrifying tragedy and re-triggered by a very upsetting time in her life and a lack of sleep.

This is a dual time line AND dual POV. We get Liv's past and preset and we get (female detective) Halliday in the present. For me, who struggles at times keeping time lines in order when they're too mixed, I actually found this one pretty easy to follow. I liked both characters and both POV's.

One thing I love about Goldin is the way she weaves in our societal and cultural issues into her plot. This book dealt with the trouble stalker victims often have at getting law enforcement to do anything to help them without them actually being hurt first. It felt right with the story.

I'd say I guessed who the bad guy was half-way through: the who and the why. But honestly that didn't hurt my enjoyment any. Because the best part of guessing while you read is finding out if you were able to put it together or not!

If you like thrillers, I definitely recommend this one! And if you like Audiobooks, this one was fantastic!

4.75 Stars (I received both an e-arc and audio arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

Originally I had gotten an e-arc but then I saw they had one for audiobook and I got accepted pretty quickly. When I read The Night Swim, I had listened to the audiobook and it was quite well done. With this release they definitely raised the audio book game.

The book follows three different perspectives Liv in the present day, a female detective investigating a murder in the present timeline and then Liv in the past, roughly two years prior. Present day Liv wakes up disoriented not know where she is and tries to go back to her apartment, only someone else lives there now.

We also go back to Liv’s life when she was actually living in the apartment with her best friend and is dating her boyfriend. Working as a food critic for a popular fashion magazine but also dealing with some paranoia regarding a stalker.

The other perspective is Detective Halliday, a female ex veteran who has recently joined the police force and has been bouncing around with different cases not with technically in a permanent position. But this time she is the first detective on the scene due to being on her way to work, so she gets to work on her first major case. Honestly her POV chapters were my favourite to read, and it was nice to have a change from Liv’s various perspectives.

I also wonder the condition that Liv suffers within the story is something that can happen in real life, losing your memories from the past couple years every time fall asleep. It is interesting seeing Liv’s story slowly be revealed, which some aspects I did guess (like the cheating and that the two people who were killed in the apartment, before they were revealed). I will say that I didn’t expect the villain to be who it was, I thought it would have been the artist who was the killer.

Overall it was a very engrossing, engaging and the best thriller I have read this year. Possibly even of all time.

This book was one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time. I absolutely couldn't put it down. It was part Girl on the Train (unreliable narrator and pacing) and part something that is all it's own. I loved getting to figure out Liv's memories alongside her. It was engaging and interesting. I also loved The Night Swim and will read anything Megan Goldin writes. 5 stars for me.

I read lots of thrillers, which makes me a little jaded when it comes to my favorite genre. I just couldn't get into this one unfortunately. This is my second attempt with Ms. Goldin, so maybe we just don't vibe.

I really enjoy megan goldin's books and I did enjoy this one but this is probably my least favorite one. I really enjoyed the journey the book took me on as I had no clue what would happen next but the ending was a bit of a letdown.
It felt somewhat rushed and I didn't feel like it was a huge payoff. Overall I did enjoy this and it was quite thrilling but the ending left a sour taste in my mouth.