Hold on tight! I was captured as soon as I started reading. It’s one of those books where you just have to read “one more chapter”. There were plenty of twists and turns and who doesn’t love that in a thriller? The writing was excellent and I look forward to Megan Goldin’s next book!

This book was just okay! Wasn’t my favorite. Didn’t overly love the characters and wasn’t immediately sucked in. Will still read more from this author in the future

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Loved listening to the audiobook of Stay Awake. Great mystery, super suspenseful, and it kept me guessing all the way to the end! Highly recommend this thriller. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Advance Review Copy.
#NetGalley #StayAwake

This was an entertaining book, though not one, I think, that will stick with me for very long. I am usually not a fan of amnesia plot lines, but this was one did sound unique. For the most part the story was engaging, but after a while, it started to feel quite repetitive and the ending rushed and not terribly satisfying. Overall, an okay read for me, but not as clever or gripping as I hoped it might be. I've just been in a bit of a thriller rut, though, so I probably need to try a different genre.

I liked this book much more than I expected to! Hopefully, that doesn't come off wrong. Megan Goldin is a solid author and a thriller writer. I read her first novel, THE NIGHT SWIM (3 stars), with my book club and everyone greatly enjoyed it.
What gives me pause is when the "thriller" aspect is centered around an unreliable (aka crazy) heroine.
But this story was extremely creative and quite an unusual situation! The memory loss added a different element to the book. I greatly applaud Goldin as I thought the repetitive timeline (waking up and having no memory) would get old, but she kept the story moving!

This is a perfect quick and spooky fall read!

Enjoyment: 5
Total rating: 4.43

This is my first Goldin novel, and I immensely enjoyed her style. The dual timeline worked really well in this narrative, and I like how each alternating chapter was paired with the flashback giving meaning and perspective to the present time chapter we have just read.

Here is where I remind readers that Stay Awake is a work of fiction, and if they aren't willing or prepared to suspend their disbelief to be entertained, maybe this isn't the book for them. I enjoyed how Goldin used Liv's unique condition to weave a fast-paced psychological thriller that delivers quite a few satisfying punches.

Stay Awake has many of my favourite devices in a psychological thriller - dual timelines, unreliable narrator, tension and some gaslighting. The careful plotting is evident, and things come together quite nicely. As a layperson, I do not know how accurate Liv's amnesia depiction is, but as a reader, I loved how it served the story.

I both read and listened to the audiobook, and I think Imogen Church needs to stop being so good! I adore her narration and for a book with gaslighting elements, her American accident got me questioning everything I have ever heard her in. After establishing I am not crazy, I continued the story in awe of her talent and was impressed with January LaVoy for her equally superb narration. I highly recommend the audiobook for Stay Awake.


Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of Stay Awake

DNF @ 25%. I loved Megan Goldin's The Night Swim, but this one was both too hard to follow and boring. Maybe I've read too many thrillers, but this just wasn't interesting enough to make me want to continue. And, for me at least, the point of reading thrillers is to be entertained. So sadly, I decided to put this one down.

Loved this one! This is a fast paced book filled twists and turn Ms!!

Folsom’s newest thriller will keep
You up later devouring the story.

Liv is suffering amnesia, and is stuck in a time loop. Riveting will cliff hangers at the end most chapters, this was an easy read. Loved the character development and storyline unfolded in a perfect slow burn. This is a book you will think about long after it’s finished. Put it on your tbr list!

Thank you to St. Marin’s Press and netgalley for an advanced copu in exchange for my review.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to read and review Stay Awake.

Author: Megan Goldin
Published: 08/09/22
Narrators: Imogene Church & January LaVoy
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) -- Mysteries & Thrillers

Enjoyed this creepy story so much, I did not Google (not going to spoil) the author's targeted plot. I opted to go with the flow her claims felt realistic and believable. At this point, I'm moving on and taking with me more than 3.5 stars of memories.

The narrators worked so well, I forgot until I was writing this that there were two.

Liv, the main character needs to stay awake as the title implies. The rationale is done well. Occam's razor can be applied, as well as less is best. Goldin gave me just what I needed to continue reading. I thought she handled the lapse extremely well. I liked the puzzle her story created.

I did not see the overused trope of red herring nor did I notice any profanity. (I appreciate the author and immensely respect her for this.) There was one noticeable use of G-D if that is a problem for you.

I did not like the timeline bouncing back two years, etc. However, I do believe the story flowed for the most part evenly. There were a couple spikes, where I had to stop and ask what are you doing, and settle back into the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. This is a good stormy night read whether it be thunder or snow. I would gift this.

This isn't my favorite book my Megan Goldin (The Night Swim was god tier!) but this premise is so interesting and this book gave me anxiety in the best possible way. Not knowing what is going on, losing chunks of your memory, that is something that terrifies me. So extremely relatable.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin weaved together mysterious threads of intrigue and mystery which made for a fast-paced ride that kept me looking over my shoulder. Great characters with interesting backstories added to the experience.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I'll admit that unreliable narrators and time-loops are some of my least favorite devices. So it took me a while before I warmed to the story because every time the main character goes to sleep her memory resets. Having said that, it was compelling enough that I also couldn't put it down.

Liv wakes up in the back of a cab and has no idea how she got there, where she lives, or basically anything about her life. The last thing she remembers is answering the phone in her office, but that was in summer, and now it's winter...two years later.

As if that wasn't enough to deal with it appears she's also in danger. She has notes written to herself all over her hands, and she has to piece together the mystery...but starting from scratch each time she falls asleep.

Even though I didn't find any of the twists particularly surprising and I found the main character mildly irritating, I still enjoyed the story and the writing quite a lot. I absolutely loved this author's last book The Night Swim so I did have very high expectations going into this one.

I switched between reading and listening to this one, and I must say I really enjoyed the audiobook narration by Imogen Church and January LaVoy. The audio comes in at 10 hours 59 minutes. Imogen Church is one of my favorite narrators and has performed all of my favorite Ruth Ware novels as well. I can't say enough good things about January LaVoy either. She's narrated some of my all-time favorite audiobooks. So if you're an audio fan, definitely give this one a listen!

3.5 stars!

Okay, I LOVED the authors previous novels, so I had high hopes for STAY AWAKE. Halfway through reading, I found myself getting bored of the unreliable female plot, and that this was just an “okay” read for me. However, after just finishing, I’ve processed my thoughts and I really like how things came together in the end.

While I read the physical copy for the most part, I also listened to the ALC audiobook copy and enjoyed the narration. It really helped distinguish the past and present timelines.

*many thanks to St Martin’s Press/Macmillan audio for review

The story line was definitely intriguing and wasn’t too complicated to follow along while commuting to work, which is sometimes hard to do with books that switch between active characters and timelines regularly. The plot twists kept coming and the author left the suspects open to interpretation until the very end. I’ve read her previous book as well, and I think this one took the prize in all categories when lined up against that one. The story was more interesting in my opinion and I love alternating points of view in books. Will definitely recommend to my readers looking for a quick and fun psychological thriller!

This is my second book by Megan Goldin as I had read her debut book which I thought was grippingly good. This one did not disappoint. Stay Awake follows Liv Reese who wakes up with no memory of how she got to where she was. She goes back to her apartment only to find strangers answering the door who claim to live there. She goes to her place of employment and they say that she had moved out of the country to work. Nothing is what she remembers it to be. She is also starting to fear that maybe, she could have killed someone because she finds a bloody knife on her.

Stay Awake is filled with a lot of present day and flashbacks to 2 years earlier. It takes a bit of time to get used to and being able to keep track of what is going on. I will say that I felt the two parts were written well and that it was a continuous transition between both present and flashbacks.

The idea of what is going on with Liv Reese is very interesting and made for a good plot. There is a lot of action and mystery in this story. How Liv Reese was able to evade the police for so long is also interesting and makes the game of cat and mouse fun.

When it comes to the narrators for this book, I have to be honest that I didn't realize that there were two of them. I thought it was one narrator throughout. This makes me ask the question of what was the purpose of two narrators and were they both really needed. I would have to say no given that I didn't realize it until I looked up who the narrator was.

Given the above, I thought that the narrators did an excellent job in telling the story of Liv Reese and keeping your attention throughout.

Goldin's The Night Swim was a book that sucked me right in and helped to reignite my passion for reading, so I was super anxious to get my hands on Stay Awake. From the memory loss to the strange body writing, this one gave me Memento vibes from the start (a movie which I enjoyed)! The amnesiac elements gave made this a ground hog day kind of story which became repetitive at times. I had no clue how it was all going to come together and who the "bad person" was until the very end. I enjoyed the audiobook as it featured two of my favorite narrators: Imogen Church and January LaVoy.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Stay Awake ALC for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

When I see a Megan Goldin book, I grab it. She has a way of telling twisted and engaging tales and Stay Awake is no different.

That said, I did struggle a bit starting off and put it away for a few months before starting over a few days ago. Maybe I was in a better mental place this time but I got right into it and didn't want to stop reading/listening.

Even though I enjoyed the book, it's not my favorite from the author. There was SO MUCH back and forth in the timeline and the climax felt a little rushed after the sort of slow way the plot was rolled out. I absolutely felt for Liv and was glad that recapping the same things over and over (because she loses her memory every time she falls asleep) tapered off as the book progressed. It was starting to get a bit old...

Overall, though, I did like the story and the characters. I'll absolutely keep looking for Goldin books and gobble them up!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for hooking me up with both the ebook and the audio. I used them both. The narrators were good but the woman doing Liv's POV was a bit much at times. She was SO emotive that it felt over the top at times. I did move to the ebook and the experience was better for me but I did end up going back and forth as eyeball time was limited and I was into the story.

This was an interesting take on an amnesia themed thriller. Every time Liv falls asleep she forgets everything that happened to her in the last couple of years due to a traumatic near death experience. Live must stay awake and figure out who the killer is before she takes the fall or is killed herself. The story was face paced and intriguing. I liked the uniqueness of the story. I liked the ending of the book to. I do need to say the book does get a little repetitive with the amnesia and having to start over again when she falls asleep.

The narrator was great and I was able to listen to this one quickly.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, its a solid thriller with an amnesia trope.

I love Megan Goldin's writing style. Both The Escape Room and the The Night Swim were favorites of mine, and Stay Awake continues the trend of twisty, suspenseful thrillers that are hard to put down! I have read some reviews that say that the amnesia trope is overused, but, in my opinion, Stay Awake takes what could be an overdone theme and makes it fresh. The concept of recurrent amnesia every time Liv falls asleep is so intriguing, and Liv is a compelling character that makes you want her to succeed, even if you're not quite sure what she's done.

Unfortunately, the narrator of the audio version of Stay Awake was not for me. I found the pacing to be far too slow and the reader's voice to be monotone for what is supposed to be an action-packed thrill ride. So, in short, a great book, but the audio was not.

You are really thrown into the deep end with this one and just like Liv you have to put the pieces together and figure out what is happening. Liv wakes up with no memory of where she is or how she got there. She has things written on her hands/arms, she doesn't know the people living at her apartment and she doesn't even recognize herself. She has to figure out why she has to use the limited clues she has to learn why she has 'Stay Awake' written on her hands and find out if it has anything to do with the murder that is all over the TV.

I was intrigued from the get go to see how the puzzle was going to come together, but I found that the story was so repetitive which irritated me. I do appreciate how everything wrapped up in the end, but the journey to get there could have been a bit smoother in my opinion.