While on our vacation, I read STAY AWAKE by Megan Goldin {thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley}. Every time Liz goes to sleep…she can’t remember the last two years of her life; so, everyday is a chaotic, puzzle as Liz tries to figure out who can she trust, what happened, and why she is suddenly the prime suspect in a recent murder.

I really enjoyed this book! Even though her memory “resets” every time she sleeps, I never felt like this book was too much of a Groundhog Day scenario. It was fresh, fast paced, exciting, and had a rollercoaster of an ending.

What’s the last thriller you really enjoyed? STAY AWAKE releases on Aug. 9th! 😴

What if you woke up one night in a taxi with a bloody knife and writing all over your hands? What if when you walk up to your apartment, you have no keys and someone else lives there now? Things have changed and you don't know what happened. If you forgot 2+ years of memories every time you fell asleep, what would you do?

Such is the case for Liv Reese in Megan Goldin's Stay Awake. She's a good person, right? She just can't remember what has happened. The writing under her knuckles reminds her to "STAY AWAKE" but the constant intake of caffeine is messing with her mind, her body, and her emotions.

This one is fantastic. It's full of twists and turns, a dual timeline, and the alternating perspectives of Liv (currently sleep-deprived and past Liv) and the detectives assigned to the case associated with the bloody knife Liv discovers. There are questions of guilt and safety and whether or not the narrators are reliable. What are the different characters' motivations? Who can Liv trust? Can she trust herself?

This one will keep you on edge.

I received an advance ebook copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

All in all, I highly recommend this one.

A quick read thriller that kept me turning the pages. Unique story line, I never did figure out the twist.

This is a fantastic thriller! Told and both the present and the past this is the story of Liv, who when she falls asleep and wakes up, can't remember what has occurred over the past 2 years. When a murder takes place in the present, Liv seems to be the prime suspect. Liv unfortunately has no idea what is happening and told through the alternating time lines, the reader discovers the truth right along with Liv. This is not my first read by this author, but definitely my new favorite. I look forward to seeing what she writes next! Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

After loving The Night Swim I was thrilled to be approved for Stay Awake as an ebook and audiobook on NetGalley. The book starts off with a bang and while I wasn’t sure what was going on, I was definitely intrigued. Unfortunately that turned to annoyance as things quickly felt repetitive. I was tired of hearing about her moms opinion of writing on her hands, the season (it was summer and now it isn’t!) and definitely didn’t need to hear the words stay awake, sleep or memory any more. The timelines were a bit confusing - you were constantly jumping around between the detective POV in the present and a variety of times from Liv’s POV over the last two years. The detective POVs also added to the repetitiveness given we’d watch them find out the same information we already saw through Liv’s POV and would learn little to no new information during that time making me wonder what was the point. I predicted the entire outcome and there were some major plot holes along with my dreaded Scooby Doo villain moment. I did appreciate the fast pace and short chapters along with the creative plot idea.

Sadly this was a miss for me, but I have seen many glowing reviews of it which I encourage you to check out!

Thanks to @stmartinspress @macmillainaudio and @netgalley for the gifted DRC.

This book hooked me from the very beginning. Every time Liv Reese falls asleep she wakes up with no memory of the last two years. She wakes having no idea where she is or how she got there. The first time she is covered in blood and holding onto a possible murder weapon and so the loop continues. The obvious repetitiveness of this book was entertaining and not at all frustrating to me. The different timelines broke it up in an easy to follow way. What I did find frustrating was that you are truly rooting for Liv and it made me want to scream/shake everyone that doubted her, including her. 😂😬 There were parts in this book that were pretty creepy and honestly kept me awake after putting it down! There was one point while I was reading when I could actually see the cover of this book in the story. I really love that the cover ties in so perfectly. In the end I wish we got a little bit more but overall it was a really engaging story and I definitely recommend. Stay Awake comes out August 9th! Thank you St Martins Press, NetGalley and Megan Goldin for this eARC!

I loved this book! It was the first time in a long time that I couldn’t put a book down.
The way Goldin wrote from Liv’s perspective with the memory loss was really good and felt real. The addition of some characters pre-memory loss wasn’t necessary, but definitely contributed to the uncertainty in “who did it.”

I love a good suspense novel, but despite the compelling premise, Stay Awake missed the mark for me. We start the book with Liv Reese waking up in a cab with no recollection of where she is or what she's doing. In fact, she's lost all memories from the last two years. Even more frustrating, all her memories disappear when she falls asleep. This poses quite the challenge when she realizes she's been accused of a murder she obviously doesn't recall.

As you can imagine, this gets repetitive quick. Every time Liv wakes up, the frenzied panic sets in again, and we have to wait patiently for her to play catch-up before the story can progress. I was also able to piece together the ending very early on so the dramatic reveal was a bit underwhelming.

Nonetheless, I kept turning the digital pages to find out what was coming next. The idea was fun, the execution and plot holes weren't awesome, but it was a quick, easy read for summer.

It was great! Definitely a thriller to get lost in. Megan Goldin did a great job of creating anticipation, the reader was kept in the dark all the way through right along with the MC. I was invested in Liv’s story and needed to know what happened both past and present! There were lots of twists and I enjoyed the characters, perfect vacation reading material.

Wow! What an interesting concept! The main character, Liv, has an unusual condition. If she sleeps, she awakens with no memory of her life over the previous 2 years. Each new day, she must start all over again, searching for clues as to who and where she is. At the same time, detectives are trying to solve a murder, and Liv is their #1 suspect. As Liv’s identify begins to unfold, the detectives find connections to previous murders, and their search for Liv escalates.

Who is she? Why doesn’t she have any memories?Who killed three of her friends?

This was a fast paced, exciting book with a somewhat predictable twist at the end.
I highly recommend this book, and gave it 5 stars.

Thank you St.Martins Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

PUBLICATION DAY: August 9, 2022

Liv has a problem; she doesn’t remember anything - nothing at all from the past two years. In her last memory she’s a food writer at a successful magazine, living with her best friend and happily dating a new man. All is right with her world. So what changed from this idyllic time to the present, where the moment she closes her eyes she forgets everything that’s happened? And why does the murder being broadcasted all over the news seem to echo notes written on her own hand? Can she stay awake long enough to solve the mystery?

PROS and CONS:
With some similarities to SJ Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep, I was worried it would be a duplicate of that story. Amnesiac heroines are usually frustrating for me, as they never know what’s going on and seem to spend their time chasing their own tails. Perhaps going into this one with low expectations worked because I loved it! Liv (with her unreliable memory) never stopped trying to find out what had happened to her and why, and I loved the detective duo in the background slowly uncovering clues as well. Very well done!

READ IT?
Yes yes yes! Goldin is quickly becoming a favourite of mine - both the Escape Room and The Night Swim were winners for me, and this one is too! Very different stories in each of them - I love an author with depth!

4 Stars

This book was a unique take on the mystery/thriller genre, and overall I enjoyed it. The main character has a type of amnesia where she forgets everything that happened before she falls asleep so that added some tension to the book that was really fun to read. I found some of the middle section of the book a little repetitive, as in some of the same dialogue was repeated a few times between the two detectives, but nothing drastic enough to make me want to stop reading. I was pretty surprised with the reveal of the antagonist, which doesn’t happen often.

I do want to know why the waiter was calling the main character so much, but I can live with not knowing!

Believable - not really. Fast-paced - yes. Fun read - yes.

Liv Reese must Stay Awake, if not she doesn’t remember anything that happened to her for the past two years, making the title of this book Stay Awake by Megan Goldin very appropriate.

The beginning was excellent, the middle was repetitive and the end was anti climatic. That being said, there are many people who loved this book so I say give it a try.

Thank you NetGalley and St. martins Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I completely devoured this book in two days! This is exactly what a psychological thriller should be!

Every time she falls asleep, Liv forgets the past two years of her life. She tries everything she can to stay awake, but eventually passes out and when she wakes she’s completely disoriented again, trying to return to her former life with no idea what is going on. Her hands are covered in messages to stay awake and not to trust anyone. While Liv is trying to figure things out, she sees news coverage of a horrible murder that occurred the night before, with a message to Wake Up written in the victim’s blood, one of the same messages on her hands. Why can’t Liv remember anything? Who can she trust? And what did she do last night?

Stay Awake was very fast paced and had my heart racing, with short chapters alternating between Liv and the detectives in the current day and Liv’s life two years ago. I felt like I was right along side of Liv trying to figure things out, and it kept definitely me guessing until the very (well done) end.

This is my favorite Megan Goldin book yet! Stay Awake releases soon, on August 9th. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a gripping psychological thriller!

Special thanks to Netgalley, Megan Goldin, and St. Martin’s Press for sharing an ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Stay Awake is a new thriller that will definitely keep you up all night! Liv Reese has a condition where she loses her memory every time she falls asleep and one day finds out she's a suspect of a murder she does not remember committing.

things i liked:
- fast-paced
- dual timeline
- unreliable narrator trope
- unpredictable, full of turns and twists
- unputdownable

thing i didn't like:
- "stay awake" phrase is overused

(full review to be posted on my bookstagram near or on pub date)

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Goldin is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. This was my third read by her. My favorite was The Escape Room (because of the dark humor); her best so far was The Night Swim, and; this one too, had me racing through to the end. Although I read this a few months ago, I am sadly only reviewing now - so there are many blanks in my memory (chuckle, chuckle, chuckle). What I remember most is being gobsmacked by the final twist - my favorite kind, the one that was right up there in my face the whole way through the novel and yet I never saw it coming.

MC wakes up in a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there (I can totally empathize, I'm so overwhelmed with backlogged work that I often fall asleep at my desk and wake up confused and disoriented). She has messages scrawled over her hands, torso, and arms – all warning her to stay awake. As it turns out, every time she falls asleep, she wakes up with no knowledge of what she was doing or where she was before she fell asleep. It soon becomes apparent that she has "lost" two years - and that's not all. Where once she wrote brilliant articles for a successful magazine, had a gorgeous successful boyfriend, and an amazing flat that she shared with her best friend, she now discovers that she lives in a grungy basement flat with writing all over the walls, warning her not to open the door and not to trust anyone. It soon becomes clear that someone is chasing her, and that she is wanted in connection with a murder (or two or three). At one point in her quest to discover her background, she finds herself in a flat where a man she does not recognize lies murdered of stab wounds on a bed. She looks down to see a bloody knife in her hands...once more there is an eerily familiar message scrawled on the window across from the bed. Is she a murderer? Who is living in her flat and why are they threatening to call the police if she does not leave them alone? Where is her boyfriend and her best friend? There are mysteries galore in this novel. Obviously, she cannot remain awake forever, so she writes notes to herself on her skin to try to keep her on track if she nods off…but the messages are always a mystery to her when she wakes. Sometimes it’s back to square one and sometimes she reaches all the way to square five, but it takes a real shock at the end to jolt back those memories.

This is no Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy (50 first dates) but rather a suspense thriller that will keep you at the edge of your chair, flipping the pages until several mysteries are solved and you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this wonderful book by one of my favorite authors. Even five months after reading, I still remember all of the plot, all of the twists, and especially how much I loved Stay Awake by Megan Goldin.

This book BLEW MY MIND.

Megan Goldin is taking her place on the throne with the thriller of the Fall! This book is immersive, and it shocked me. Stay Awake is pure excitement, a psychological thriller beyond any others that I've read. Unreliable Narrator? SIGN ME UP! I read this book in one sitting. I'm sad that it's over, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. Thank you to St Martin's Press for the copy to review! I have preordered a copy as well because I must share it/own it.

Liv suffers from a rare form on amnesia, and she must not fall asleep. When Liv falls asleep her slate is wiped clean. 50 First Dates but a THRILLER. Waking up with a bloody knife, Liv must piece together her clues, and try to connect the dots in this unique thriller. Dual timelines/Dual characters were well connected, and the pieces fit together perfectly. I was able to stay with the story without confusion and enjoyed getting to know Liv prior to suffering from amnesia, as well as see the story from the detectives point of view.

The ending was perfect. It tied the book of beautifully. I was very happy with the plot twist and will absolutely be a fan of Goldin for years to come!

Every time Liv wakes up, she has no idea where she is or what happened the day before. She's been living in a terrifying loop from two years prior. The last thing she can clearly remember is that she lives in Brooklyn with her best friend Amy and her boyfriend is Marco.

But now, other people are in her apartment and Marco's phone is not in service. What has happened to Liv? Where is Amy? Why does Liv have a bloody knife in her hands?

Told in duel timelines and with three points of view, Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a thriller that is sure to be a late summer hit and fly off of the shelves. It's part Momento, part "The Night Of", and part of the real Agatha Christie story.

I did find that Detective Halliday's backstory was a bit uninteresting to me--maybe that's just me. I did really enjoy the flip between old Liv and current Liv--it was a fun look at the difference between the two, to compare the pre/post 'incident' Liv.

This is a fantastic, fast-paced read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I loved this book! Every time Liv falls asleep she wakes up with no meme out from the last two years. So many twists and turns that will keep you needing to read more! Awesome job Megan!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoyed Stay Awake. I read it first and then listened to the audio – a winning combination. The storyline is unique. My interest built as things progressed. I found the first half slow and at times confusing. The second half is when Goldin hit her stride for me.

I absolutely adore Imogen and January’s narrations. The audio kept my interest and things moved along more quickly when I could envision the setting and the characters. Megan Goldin has fast become an auto buy for me. I highly recommend.