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After surviving a brutal assault, Liv Reese suffers from psychologically-induced amnesia. She can't remember anything that's happened in the last two years, and to make matters worse, every time she goes to sleep, the clock resets. Any information learned while she was awake is erased from her memory, including the new relationships she's formed, the life she created overseas, and the fact that she is the sole survivor of and the key witness to a massacre. Armed only with scribbled messages on her hands and arms, Liv must decipher these cryptic clues if she plans to solve the crime and clear her name.

Thoughts on the audio version: While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I wasn't a fan of the audio version. There were two narrators, and the actress voicing Liv Reese's character overplayed her confusion, making her speech incredibly slow and drawn out. About a quarter of the way in, I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish the audio version and would have to switch to a physical copy. I decided to try speeding up the narration, which is something I never do, but it did the trick. Once I increased the narration of Liv's chapters to 1.5-2x the speed, her chapters flowed at a natural speaking pace, making it a much more enjoyable read. The only downside is the narrator voicing Detective Halliday's chapters did not speak with a slow drawl, so I had to keep switching back to a normal speed for her chapters. It was a bit tedious, but the plot was worth the hassle. If you're a reader who enjoy both reading and listening, try a physical copy first, but if you're someone who only uses audiobooks, try this trick before giving up. You won't regret it!

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Twisty and captivating from the beginning. I read enough thrillers to be hard to impress and this one was pretty great!

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Liv wakes up in the back of a cab. She is disoriented and unable to remember anything beyond answering the phone at work earlier that day. When she gets home, she realizes she has no phone and no purse, and cannot get into her apartment. Shamefully she knocks on the door, hoping her roommate won’t be too upset, but it isn’t her roommate who opens the door. Instead, Liv is face to face with a couple who claim they are the owners of her apartment, and threaten to call the cops if she doesn’t leave. Back on the street, unable to remember, Liv is desperate to get some answers, especially after she finds a knife in her pocket and written all over her arms are small notes, including one that says, STAY AWAKE! In another part of the city, a body is found alone in an apartment with a single stab wound to the chest. Investigators are determined to find some answers and bring the murderer to justice.

There was just a lot going on in this novel, making it difficult to put together a description that doesn’t give much away! The novel was a very unique thriller, a solid plot line that jumped right into the action from the first chapter. There were moments that were confusing, but in a good way, that made you want to keep reading and find out how all of the pieces would come together and connect.

I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook version of this novel as well as having a written copy to read. I thought the narration was very well done, clear and easy to follow along, especially with the varying time periods and character perspectives. It was a pleasant listening experience.

Megan Goldin has once again proven that she is writing solid thrillers, this is definitely worth the read!

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and Megan Goldin for the opportunity to read and listen in exchange for my honest review.

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** 4.5 🌟 **

A psychological thriller involving a main character who doesn’t have any memory of what she’s done in the hours prior to waking up. Her memories revert back 2 years to a life she is no longer living. People have died, and she doesn’t remember how or when. Is she a murderer?

I quite enjoyed this (audio) book, as the character development was sufficient to carry the story, the suspense was definitely there, and the evidence and capture of the real murderer was very well wrapped up with no loose ends.

A great read for thriller buffs.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. However, it was more so me than it was the book. I've always had a hard time concentrating on audiobooks and this one was especially hard to keep track of all the details.

Perhaps I will pick up a hard copy this fall!

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Stay Awake by Megan Goldin lured me in with the premise. Within the first 2 minutes of the audiobook, I almost gave right up. I was not impressed by one of the narrator's vocalizations of one of the male characters. Something about it grated on my ears. I came back to the book a few days later, and I am so glad I did because this one was a stellar story.

The main character, Liv Reese, bugged the hell out of me. I found her annoying and dippy. Her reluctance to get help or believe what anyone said to her multiple times throughout the story was frustrating. Even though she annoyed me, I was still fascinated by her story. The issue of memory and traumatic fugue states is so dynamic and not something I've seen discussed or displayed so well in a book before. Watching her trying to figure out what was going on, and unraveling her story at the same time I was listening was great. There were plenty of twists and turns to the story, and even though I should have seen that ending coming, I didn't and I honestly loved it.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin was a really great book and it has made me really interested in checking out some of her other titles.

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This was so good! It was thrilling right from the beginning. I will definitely recommend this to my friends.

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Wow! I was thoroughly invested and incredibly stumped. I love to try and guess the “bad guy” when I’m reading. I’m so glad my original guess was wrong. The fact that liv had amnesia made this book so good because anytime she fell asleep she forget but each time she woke up we got more information. I thought it was very well done and I can’t wait for Megan’s next book!

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Well this was incredible. It’s one of those books that keeps moving and you’re just gripped by every second as you’re trying to put everything together. And while looking back on it now hindsight says I probably could’ve seen this ending, but man was I taken on a twisted path. I never landed on the ending, never fully guessing it. This was incredibly twisty and a great psychological thriller. One of my favorites of the year!

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I had a difficult time with this book. It is learned from the start that someone is having some sort of memory issues but we do not know why. We also learn some has been killed. My frustration continued until chapter 42 or 69% into the book why the main character has memory issues or what led to her memory issues. We learn causes or possible reasons at different points in the book but I would have understood the main character had I, the reader, known the trauma she experienced that is the root cause of her issues. Instead I was left guessing. The author does give flashbacks but I kept wondering if the main character was providing them or if the author just supplied them for the reader. There is a point in the book that you come full circle to chapter 1 but it is very late in the book that this occurs. I wanted to give up on this book and I have seen reviews were many have done just that but I wanted to know what happened to Liv. Why was she like this. I wanted to know if things would work out for her. How did she find ways to survive. They have this on the DNF pile. By the end of the book I was smiling at the outcome /conclusion the author had given. It is not a clear resolution and we do not know the main characters future but it concludes. The book does show the good that can be found in humanity but it also shows the bad as well. The evil that could be just around the corner. Do I recommend this book? Yes. But the reader has to realize that they will be lost for 3\4 of the book. They will be given clues and they may figure it out but possibly not. I personally would like to see the author write more books with the two main detectives in this book. I loved their chemistry. They worked really well together. Maybe if the author does this the main character of this book could make a cameo and we could learn what has happened in her life since this book’s conclusion. So, in conclusion give this book a chance. Do not let the unknown put you off. Do not let what seems repetitive put you off. You may end up surprised just like I was that you enjoyed the book.

I listened to this book and the narrator for the main character was not my favorite. At times she was slow. Also, who cannot say Houston? This occurred once at about exactly 39%. To me is sounded like she said Whoston. This sorta set me off. It was the only mispronunciation I heard but to me it was a major mispronunciation.

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Excellent audiobook. Keeps you guessing until the end. I would like to thank the publishers for letting me listen to this audiobook.

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Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and audio ARC of this!

Memory loss is particularly frightening to me in and of itself, after watching my Grandma go through dementia, so this thriller was uniquely terrifying. The idea that someone could be coming to hurt you and you don’t know who it could be? Shudder. Kept me on the edge of my seat, halfway holding my breath while I read the second half of it.

The narration was well done, both narrators are ones I’ve enjoyed in the past, so I was excited for more from them.

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Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi, on a park bench and in a subway car, but can’t remember how she got any of these places. The last memory she has is sitting at her desk on a beautiful summer day and receiving an urgent phone call. She realizes it’s almost winter in NYC and doesn’t know how she lost months of her life. Her hands are covered with black writing telling her to stay awake and trust no one. Liv catches the news of a murder on TV with the words Stay Awake in the victim’s blood on the window and it dawns on her that she might be involved.

Stay Awake is a suspenseful ride that kept me wanting and anticipating, but I could not figure out where is was going, I just knew I didn’t want to exit. Imagine how terrifying it would be to have no memories while you try to piece together your last 24 hours to discover if you are or aren’t a murderer. And add to that a complete shocker of an ending. Must read in my opinion!

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I really enjoyed this one. It did a good job of adding confusion since the main character is highly confused for the entire book. I felt like I was her in a lot of the situations since I was so confused. I will say as an audiobook it was a little confusing with all of the timeline switching, but maybe that’s just me not paying enough attention. For my second Goldin novel, I can now say this is a solid author that I seriously recommend. I saw some reviews that said it was “too long” but I didn’t feel that in audiobook form. Maybe it would have been true in physical form but I felt invested and interested for the entire audiobook. If you want to be left guessing about what happened AND who did it, this is a great book for you!

This review has been posted to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, goodreads & will be on my instagram (@busywithmybooks_) within the week!

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Megan Goldin can do no wrong!! A totally unputdownable thriller !! This book will have you gripped from the very first page until the jaw-dropping final twist. The audiobook was fantastic, including being narrated by one of my all-time favorites, Imogen Church.

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Imagine my excitement when I was approved by Net Galley to read this book before publication. The author has a ton of buzz in the bookstagram world, so I was really looking forward to checking out her latest book before it hit shelves. As an added bonus, I was approved for the audiobook as well as the print version so I was able to do a hybrid of reading and listening to the story.

The premise that our main character, Liz Reese, suffers from memory loss and finds herself accused of murder seemed intriguing, if not reminiscent of a book I recently read and disliked – Before I Go To Sleep by S.J.Watson. My hope was that this writer could give the amnesia angle a better run. Unfortunately, I found this frustratingly repetitious and full of plot holes. Of course, some repetition is expected when you’re reading about someone who has no memory of where they are or what they’re doing but this book used the exact same phrases within the same page, or even the same paragraph at times.

The audiobook was incredibly difficult to listen to. While the narration for the detective investigating the murder was very well done and I found myself the most engaged while listening to those portions. However, the majority of the book is about Liz and shown from her perspective. The person who narrated her parts alternated between sounding in absolute awe and complete stupidity. Every sentence said was expressed as a question. ‘I put my hand? In my pocket? And pulled out… a knife? My breath caught? A knife? Covered in blood?” I wanted to jam a fork in my ear every time this person spoke. Surely, there must be a way to convey confusion without this exasperating tone of voice.

This book was a big miss for me. I wouldn’t recommend it except maybe to someone very new to the thriller genre who hasn’t read many amazing books yet. This one is not in that category – not by a long shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this free eARC and audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Stay Awake is a compelling thriller about a woman with a rare form of amnesia that puts her in the middle of a murder investigation.

The book starts with the main character, Liz, waking up in a cab in New York with a bloody knife, who is soon on the run.

This book is narrated over multiple timelines as it has perspectives of Liv and detective Halliday.

Stay Awake by Megan Golding is highly suspenseful, and the reason behind Liv’s amnesia is intriguing. This novel was hard to stop reading, as I was intrigued by the story. The conclusion of this book was action-packed and surprising.

I positively recommend Stay Awake.

I received an ARC of this audio-book from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

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I know you’ve seen this one getting attention all week. But I have to throw some love its way!

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 incorporates the amnesia trope. Now before you’re like “oh no, that again,” Megan Goldin does a great job with it. The main character, Liv, wakes up in the back of a cab with a bloody knife. She doesn’t remember anything from before she fell asleep. And now she is caught in a cycle where every time she sleeps, she awakes, only recalling memories from two years ago.

Did I mention that written on her arms are cryptic messages like STAY AWAKE & DON’T SLEEP!

Oh yeah, and Liv finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

Can you imagine losing memories every time you sleep (and I need my sleep), creepy messages written on you, and having NYPD detectives investigating you? Liv is caught in a nightmare.

I enjoyed the short, tense chapters, the flashbacks, and how these female characters were developed along the way. I have to read Goldin’s 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐦 now!

Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted copy and thank you @macmillan.audio for the audiobook.

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What a wild ride! This was an exciting book from the start! I liked how it jumped right into it and didn't waste any time. There were lots of red herrings along the way. I received the audio version of this book and I sadly feel like the narrator overacted. I think I would have enjoyed the book much better if I had read it instead. But l still loved the book and the premise.

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Holy Moly!!! Megan Goldin does it again! Her new book, STAY AWAKE is totally awesome! From the start, the plot hooked me and did not let go to the end. I read the book in one sitting because I could not wait to see what happens next. I had no issue with STAYING AWAKE to read this one (pun intended)! This no-yawn-fast-paced mystery thriller is surprising and fresh. The ending is astonishing and wrapped with a bow to bring a solid conclusion to the story. This is a must read!!

The narration was well done and perfect for this mystery thriller

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