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

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator. Great suspense and storyline. Not the typical, loss of memory story. Highly recommend.

I really liked this book! I found it to be a great thriller that kept me guessing the whole time. I never really thought I knew the ending, and I was definitely surprised! You won’t be disappointed!

Holy moly! This book is a WILD ride and I couldn't figure out what happened until about 90% through.
This book is a murder mystery, but with a main character who forgets everything in the past two years when she falls asleep. Liv desperately wants to stay awake, but she is being chased by a murderer AND on the run for a murder that she has no idea if she committed or not.

Until about 70% of the way through this book, I was quite confused with the back and forth of memories and other points-of-view. However, all of those pieces ended up coming together as crucial pieces of evidence.

I enjoyed both Imogen Church and January LaVoy's narration as they really brought the characters to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to read and review Stay Awake by Megan Goldin!

Stay Awake
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 8/9/22
Author: Megan Goldin
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio
Narrators: Imogen Church and January LaVoy
Goodreads Rating: 4.06

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. A stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold and her phone is missing. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. What did she do last night? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

My Thoughts: My first thoughts is WOW! I did this mostly on audiobook but was fortunate enough to have an Arc copy of both. The narrators were fantastic and really breathed life into the characters, you felt like you were there. This is one of the best thrillers I have read this year and I have read a few. The premise of this plot, opening with a murder and working your way back in flashes, having no memory of what happened is a brilliant plot! The characters are well developed with depth, mystery, intrigue, and creative. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, kept me engaged and was brilliantly written! I highly recommend you pick up this book that was released last week, I would recommend the audio because it was brilliantly done.

Listened to the audiobook in 2 days. The narrators did a nice job. The character development and their relationships pulled me in. I had a "stay awake" to the switching of timeline. The ending was not predictable yet not surprising.

3.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early. This is my first Megan Goldin and I really liked it, but it also had a lot of things I didn't love. The basic premise of this book is that a woman named Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea whats going on. She asks to go to her apartment but when she gets there she finds other people living there with no idea who she is. She also finds writing all over her body that says things like "Stay awake" "don't fall asleep" etc. Simultaneously, a man is found stabbed to death in an Air BnB and the words "WAKE UP" are written in blood on the window. The rest of the book is Liv trying to figure out what's going on in her life and why she forgets everything every time she falls asleep as well as trying to figure out the whodunnit for the murder.
I liked the sense of paranoia that ran through this book. Liv doesn't know anything about her life or what happened in the 2 years she can't remember, and she doesn't know who to trust. She also doesn't know-- is she capable of murder? Why did she have a bloody knife in her pocket? I also liked the very subtle feminist undertones of this book. The detective is a woman and there's a lot of great empowerment there. I also loved that there is zero romance in this book. There are male and female detectives that could've easily added some sexy times to sell more copies and I'm grateful she didn't do that. The ending was also surprising and not what I would've guessed. That being said, did it make a lot of sense? Meh.
The things I didn't like were Liv. In general. Her mindset didn't make sense to me. If you are that scared and paranoid (understandably so) why not have yourself committed somewhere to help with the memory loss? I didn't understand a lot of her motivations and felt annoyed by her multiple times. The narrator of the audiobook didn't really help on that front because she was very breathy and timid sounding. I also didn't like how slow and redundant parts of the story felt. In the middle it was the same thing all the time. Cops looking for Liv, Liv being confused, lather, rinse, repeat. Her back story also took a really long time to unfold.
Overall I think this was a good book that kept me mostly entertained. I enjoyed it while reading it but wasn't upset when I had to put it down (except at the very end). I'm excited to read more from Megan Goldin.