Liv Reese has a great job writing for lifestyle magazine, Cultura, a hot Italian boyfriend, Marco, a stunning physician roommate/best friend, Amy, and a great apartment in Brooklyn.

Doesn’t she?

She did until she woke up this morning. Why is everyone treating her so strangely? And who is the couple who answered the door of her apartment? Weirder still: Why is there a bloody knife in her pocket, and why are her hands and arms covered in ballpoint ink admonishments to “WAKE UP!”, “STAY AWAKE!”, “TRUST NO ONE”, and more?

If all of that isn’t alarming enough, during her wanderings, she’s just seen a news report showing a murder scene where the killer scrawled “WAKE UP” in blood on the victim’s window. Is she connected to it somehow? Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle certainly suspect so, and now they just need to find her to ask questions.

That’s a great premise! You have an MC who’s not just lost two years of her memories but whose brain does a complete reset to her last familiar day each and every time she falls asleep. She’s confused, scared, and vulnerable to dangers she’s completely unaware of. I should feel the utmost care and concern for her! Wouldn’t anyone? So, why did I start feeling detached?

Questions are what mysteries are built on. It’s why most of us read them! However, there’s a big difference between a series of new questions that move you toward a conclusion and the same question being asked repetitively, like a child in the backseat saying, “Are we there yet?” over and over and over - only Liv’s question would be some variation of “What’s going on?”. I enjoyed it at first, then … not as much.

While I liked the story, my over-analytical brain got in the way of just going along with some things. Other than Detectives Halliday and Lavelle and those involved in the investigation, no one seems to know how to ask or answer a direct question. Everyone tells Liv that she doesn’t remember things, but no one seems to ever tell her the facts, like “Hey, you seem really confused. Let me help fill in the blanks.” Nope. Liz doesn’t ask and they don’t offer, and no one thinks to call the cops to help this clearly very confused woman.

What did work for me was the narration by Imogen Church and January LaVoy. I thought they both did a fantastic job, and listening to this while reading along on my Kindle kept me engaged in the story. The premise is intriguing, the story is good, the writing is excellent and it has a solid ending reveal, so the book has a lot going for it! Definitely more pros than cons.

For those of you considering this book, I hope that much like our MC, Liv Reese, you’ll go to sleep tonight and completely forget my review and wake up tomorrow with only memories of that last glowing one you’ve undoubtedly read before mine. There are many! I think most readers will really enjoy this book, and I know I’ll be eagerly awaiting Megan Goldin’s next one!

★★★ ½ (rounded to 3)

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley and author Megan Goldin for this digital ARC to honestly review. This will be published on August 9, 2022.

This book definitely kept me awake until the early morning hours! Liv wakes up in the middle of the night in the city in the back of a taxi. She has no idea how she got there, but she has writing all over her hands, and it’s her handwriting. Messages telling her to “stay awake”. She also finds a bloody knife in her pocket. This book was nuts! But fantastically nuts! Twists and turns you never see coming and an edge of your seat ending! Than you so much!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and Megan Goldin for allowing me to read an ARC of Stay Awake. Holey moley did this put me through a ride! Once I started this I could not put it down. This is an honestly one of the best thrillers I have read that kept me on my toes the whole time. There were a few follow up questions I have, but I can look past it! It’s a quick read and don’t forget.. stay awake!

Let's just say this book was not for me. I found it to be incredibly repetitive, which makes some sense because the main character has a rare amnesia disorder that causes her to forget the last two years of her life every time she falls asleep, but I found the middle of the book to be excessive in repeating the same scenes and conversations. In addition to this, Stay Awake had one of my biggest reading pet peeves: I figured out the "bad guy" before it was revealed. The only saving grace for this title was that the characters Goldin created were really well developed and I think others will enjoy this title more than I did. My favorite book of hers is still The Escape Room and I will pick up her next title despite not vibing with this one.

4.5 stars!

I binged this book in less than 12 hours. I could not put it down because I was so curious about all the plots and how they were going to link/play out. There were a lot of parts to the story that I didn't expect and definitely DID NOT see the ending coming at all. Some parts may have seemed extreme, but IMO it did not take away from the story at all!

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for advanced copies in exchange for an honest review!

😴😴😴😴 / 5

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for providing me early access to the ARC!

This was a thrilling read, and I was super intrigued from the start! I enjoyed the concept and the dual timeline and POVs, as it was interesting to follow the MC and the detectives. It was a little difficult to keep up at times, but everything is cleared up at the end, so it’s not important to try to remember all of the details. There were plenty of twists to blow your mind, and the ending was wild! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

I can’t wait to read The Night Swim next!

A digital ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. The opinions are my own and freely given.

This book opens with Liv waking up in a taxi and the last thing she remembers is answering her phone at work. She goes to her apartment only to find she doesn't know the people that are living there, and it appears it is no longer her apartment. She discovers that since her last memory it is now 2 years later, and she has no idea what happened. She has messages written on her hand to STAY AWAKE and TRUST NO ONE. Liv has been diagnosed with Repetitive Memory Blackout of Repetitive Fugue Amnesia.
This book is broken up into chapters of Liv present day, Live 2 years ago and Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle in the present day. The present-day story is told in a 1-day timeline and is well marked with the time stamp. I was not confused with the way the story jumped timelines, especially with Liv forgetting everything the second she woke up.
I was hooked from the beginning, and I couldn't wait to find out what her trauma was that made her forget everything else. Oh, and did I mention, there was a murder, and the detectives are trying to find Liv through it all. I didn't want to put this down. I loved Liv, I loved the detectives, (not Krause - him I wanted to hit over the head). This is fast paced, and I would highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Megan Collins.

I have posted my review today (7/19/22) on the following sites:
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/884503335
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4425141343
https://www.instagram.com/kuhlreads/
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338257#n7873768

4.5
This might be one of the most unique premises for a thriller that I’ve ever come across. I honestly couldn’t stop listening as I tried to figure out what the heck was going on.

The alternating perspectives allowed the story to be fully formed and made it feel truly intense. The writing was really good and the big reveal was actually surprising. I really didn’t know where this was headed for a large majority of the read and I loved that!

I did a combo of audio and print and can recommend both! Add this to your list immediately!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the arc & alc in Exchange for an honest review!

Stay Awake hooked me from the start! Though it seemed sort of confusing, I got my bearings and was very intrigued by the plot line. Unfortunately it ended up falling flat for me. I liked the idea of back and forth timelines and dual POV, but they seemed pretty disjointed skipping backwards like 2 days or 2 years and the detective parts were boring. I liked the short chapters and that it definitely felt creepy at times—I was craving a good, creepy thriller when I picked it up. It felt a bit too repetitive for me though— I understand why that was part of the plot with the amnesia storyline, but it felt a little drawn out. I wasn’t super shocked by the twist and left wanting more explanation at the end. Overall, this one was a bummer based on my expectations and really liking the author’s prior work THE NIGHT SWIM— I recommend it over this one.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book was really good! It’s a fast paced, psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat for most of the book and kept me guessing until the end of who the killer was.

This book comes out on August 9 and it’s one that should be added to you tbr list!

What would you do if you had lost two years of your memories? If every time you fell asleep you would wake up with no recent memories?
There were quite a few bright spots in this book. I usually don’t like unreliable narrators but I really liked Liv. She felt believable and I felt she was well developed and a character I was pushing for (even when things didn’t look good for her). I also liked the twists and turns and how information was given to us sporadically. I didn’t feel like I was waiting and waiting all the time just to get another piece of information in the mystery.
However, I felt like the detectives weren’t as well thought out. Sometimes I felt like there was just information thrown in to give them depth but it wasn’t organic. I also felt like parts got very repetitive, which isn’t surprising since Liv constantly loses her memory, but it would have been good to get info in different ways. I don’t think I want to read another sentence about how STAY AWAKE or WAKE UP was written on her hands and that’s how she realized she couldn’t fall asleep.
All in all, it was a good solid mystery thriller! Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

2.5

Stay Awake is a psychological thriller following an amnesiac named Liv, who forgets the last two years of her life and any recent memories she's gained every time she falls asleep. We're also following Detective Darcy Halliday, a young and ambitious detective, who is investigating a murder that seemingly involves Liv. The book takes place over the course of one (very, very long) day.

While initially the premise was interesting to me and kept me reading, I quickly became less and less interested in the plot and characters, who were by and large flat. Liv was constantly confused and disoriented, and although her constant goal was to gain answers, every time she was about to talk to someone who could help her, she would inexplicably escape out of some back exit and be left in the dark, which became frustrating. Her narrative was also very repetitive, as she would walk up with the same exact memories (from two years prior) and would have similar thoughts.

The detectives in this story were also pretty flat (one is young and ambitious, the other, Jack Lavelle, is a grumpy, experiences, and prefers to work alone) and I found their dialogue very, very stiff and unrealistic.

While the plot propelled me to continue reading and I planned to give this 3 stars for most of the book, the ending was really disappointing, and a lot of what happens to Liv in this book goes unexplained. In the end, of course, Liv suddenly gains her memory back in the nick of time.

If you are a fan of The Night Swim, I wouldn't deter you from reading this book, but I would lower your expectations. I will probably continue to pick Megan Goldin's books up, but this one was not it.

**Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review**

Note: I will review this book in a reading vlog that will come out on my YouTube channel on 7/31. I will also discuss this video in my July wrap up, which will be published on my channel on 8/7.

This was a well written, fast-paced thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. Everything is confusing for Liv Reese so it is for the reader as well. More confusing things keep happening and it should make everything a muddled mess but it doesn’t; it’s all introduced in a way to keep you intrigued but invested in what is going on. I loved everything about this story as I did with Night Swim, also by Megan Goldin. The only flaw from this recording is the narrator - the overacting was annoying but I learned to tune it out after a while. Highly recommended for a long weekend where you can stay up all night reading.

Liv Reese has a big problem. Because of a mental trauma, every time she falls asleep she forgets everything that has happened in the past two years. Everytime she wakes up, it is almost like "Groundhog Day: for her. All she remembers is a phone call at the office and then waking up, be it in bed, on a park bench, on a subway. Because she can't remember anything, she writes messages to herself on her hands: locations, phone numbers, stay awake!, etc. Imagine then, learning that someone has just been killed, and a message written on a window says "Wake up!" A picture posted of a woman leaving the scene is identified as Liv Reese. Who can she trust to help her when she remembers nothing? I thought that this was a pretty good book. You could feel the terror and confusion that Liv must have felt everywhere she went. It shows how many people knew her and of her condition, and how they tried to help her, even if they really didn't know how. Interesting how your brain tries to protect you from things that you just aren't capable of dealing with at the time.

Fast-paced thriller with an unreliable narrator. The dual timelines were done very well, and the main character's sense of living on panic and no sleep came through.

A little too formulaic and far-fetched for more stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my this book is great!

Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or why she’s there. She looks at her hands and sees writing all over her hands and arms - Stay Awake is written many times. After she exits the taxi at her apartment she learns it isn’t her apartment anymore. What is going on? Liv can’t remember anything since she woke up and can’t remember anything from the last two years. Liv is desperate to figure out what is happening but in the meantime it looks like she’s wanted for commuting a crime she has no recollection of.

I was on the edge of my seat with this book. The Night Swim was one of my favorite books of 2020 so I had high hopes for this one - and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a psychological twisty thriller! Be on the lookout for this book August 9th! Special thanks to @netgalley and the publisher @stmartinspress for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Liv wakes up in a cab— and has no idea how she got there. It turns out that she has no memory of the past 2 years, and every time she falls asleep she loses her memory again. Stay Awake goes back and forth between 2 years ago and the present day.

Overall, this is a great read, but the pacing does feel a bit off. Stay Awake starts out really intriguing, but loses some steam as it plows through the meat of the story. As it wraps up, the excitement returns and it becomes a page tuner again.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED the concept of this book. The frequent stay awake messaging set a really fun spooky tone. However, the concept of memory loss means that the narrator doesn't know what's going on and therefore the reader does not know what's going on. I would of liked to see more clues given in the other POV to help me not feel as lost. Additionally, there were so many extra characters I had trouble keeping up along with piecing together the story.

✨Book Review✨
Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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This book was SO good. I will say, it takes a lot these days for a thriller to suck me in, and I literally don't remember the last time I stayed up too late only to keep reading, but this book had me NEEDING to read more.
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There were a lot of time adjustments to get used to, but I actually ended up loving jumping from the past to the present and back. I never quite knew who to trust and just HAD to know what was happening. Some of you might not be into the sort of unrealistic aspect of this book, but its farfetchedness did not bother me at all. If you want a thriller that will keep you turning pages, pick up this book.

Another trusted author fail. What a bummer! After loving the authors last two releases I had high hopes for this one. If not for a strong history with the author I would have dnf’d this around halfway.
The story was intriguing at first and kept me locked in til about 55%. I thought when we hit the big reveal at 40% that things would pick up. Unfortunately I just found the second half of the book a drag. The ending was lackluster and predictable.

I needed a solid ending after the repetitiveness of the majority of the plot line and again this fell flat for me.