Reckless Reading Reviews Matchmaking for Psychopaths
Reviewed by Lulu St.James
There’s very little I love more than reading about cheating men getting their just desserts. That’s what drew me to Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell and I absolutely fell in love with this book! It was completely unhinged and equal parts funny, sad, and wild. I read it from start to finish in one sitting because I just couldn’t stop.
Main character Lexie was amazing! She was completely feral and a bit delusional. I loved the way she tried to process things, and it felt so real how she continually relayed everything back to media – reality tv, romance movies, etc. Everything can be rationalized if you live life like it’s a trashy tv show! Being inside her head was exhilarating and honestly? Made me wish I could live as free as she did. Lexie believed if she set her mind to something, that was it, it would happen; absolutely nothing could or would stop her. It was refreshing to read an FMC that is unapologetically wild but also nice and girly.
Structure wise, this book was so extremely fast paced! It felt like a breeze to read, and I didn’t even realize three hours had passed between starting and finishing the book. It never seemed to lag, it never left me feeling confused and always had me trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I also really loved the narrative style this was written in. It felt intimate, like Lexie was talking to us and we were in on this together, which was so clever given the emphasis Lexie places on the characters she watches on tv. The plot was solid. As we’re trying to figure out what happened to Noah, we’re also on this adventure with Lexie to get promoted and find a new friend. Everything was so perfectly entwined that we’d go from main plot to sub plots and learn a little more about everything in the process.
But what really blew me away was how Coryell gave us this fun and thrilling horror/mystery/romance while simultaneously touching upon the illusion the media creates, the inferiority and loneliness it sparks, and the parasocial relationships it enforces. It’s hard to find a book that can balance being fun and entertaining while also providing social commentary without coming across as preachy or heavy-handed, but Matchmaking for Psychopaths did this perfectly. Lexie yearns for friendships like she sees on tv. She desperately wants a family, a mother, like the ones in the movies. She constantly wonders why she just can’t seem to get it, no matter what she does or how hard she tries. Lexie is so desperately lonely and fills her life with reality tv, watching people she doesn’t know do things she wishes she could, relating to them. She touches upon how she has this thriving social media life, but what does it matter when there’s no one she can call to chat with when things go wrong. It just really left such a deep impression .
I 100% recommend Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell. I think this is definitely one of my top books of the year. It reads incredibly fast and has a little of everything – from romance to betrayal to murder to social commentary. This was so wonderfully satirical, lightheartedly dark, and frankly relatable.
Visit the original article here
The Gloss Review – Matchmaking for Psychopaths
Review by Shanna Thornsbury
Imagine building the perfect life: the beautiful home, the handsome doctor fiancé, a job that’s a little unconventional (matching high-functioning psychopaths), and having a loyal best friend. Lexie seems to have it all. After surviving a tumultuous childhood and spending a lifetime craving safety, love, and stability, it finally feels like she’s won. Until, of course, she shows up at her birthday dinner expecting a surprise party… and instead gets a plot twist. Her boyfriend and her best friend announce they are in love.
Enter Aiden and Rebecca.
Aiden, a mysterious and handsome stranger Lexie meets while drowning her sorrows on the night of her betrayal, who becomes somewhat of a fixture in her increasingly chaotic life.
And Rebecca, her new beautiful and sophisticated client who is very keen on being Lexie’s new bestie. A little odd…. But when you’ve just been dumped and betrayed by the two people closest to you, a new friend who shares your interest in reality trash-TV seems like just the thing to help you through the heartbreak.
That is, until her fiancé goes missing and alarming packages and notes begin arriving at her house and work. Between the two new characters in her life and some duplicitous co-workers, Lexie is plunged into a “who done it” situation.
This book is a lighthearted thriller in the very best way—it doesn’t lean into the gloom and doom too much. It’s got the dark edges you want in a thriller, but it also gives you delicious character dynamics, a fast-paced plot, and the kind of twisted dialogue that I appreciated. Lexie’s inner monologue is a highlight: part heartbroken heroine, part survivor, and part chaos gremlin trying not to panic as the world spirals around her.
Ultimately, this is a story about losing everything and trying to claw your way back—with psychopaths helping you along. It’s about how childhood trauma, love, and survival can blur all the rules, and how sometimes psychopaths may just be the ones who understand loyalty best.
If you’re looking for a thriller that’s juicy without being too dark, twisty without being too heavy, and just the right amount of morally ambiguous, then this is your next binge read. I found the book very easy to read…. And read it in two sittings!
SheReads Interviews Tasha Coryell
Tell us about your new book.
Matchmaking for Psychopaths is about a matchmaker who gets dumped by her fiancé for her best friend. She keeps the breakup a secret because she’s too embarrassed to admit what happened to her coworkers and in her emotionally vulnerable state, she ends up getting too close to a couple of her clients, who also happen to be psychopaths. She thinks she’s holding it together and then body parts start arriving at her house and she has to figure out if they’re from her psychopathic clients, her ex-best friend, or her mom in prison.
What drew you to the thriller genre originally?
I started reading a lot of thrillers when I was in graduate school. Most of the reading I did for class was either super literary or academic texts. In comparison, reading thrillers was so fun. It made me realize that I wanted to write fun things too.
What’s a recent thriller you loved?
I just finished The Exes by Leodora Darlington (full disclosure, Leodora is also my UK editor at Orion) and I loved all the insightful things she had to say combined with nonstop twists.
Who is a fellow author you’d want with you if there was a murderer on the loose?
I’ve been slowly making my way through all of the Karin Slaughter books and I think she would definitely be able to figure out the murderer’s identity. I don’t normally go for detective fiction, but Karin Slaughter and Tana French are writers that I’ll break that for.
What’s the thing that scares you the most?
I’m worried this sounds dumb, but I’m scared of being alone.
What’s your favorite slasher movie of all time?
I rewatch all the Scream movies every October. They’re so funny and meta. I always try to convince my editors that murderers don’t need a motive because of Scream and they never buy it.
Which of your characters would you be most afraid to meet in real life?
Definitely Rebecca. I’m very intimidated by extremely hot women.
Have you ever scared yourself writing a scene?
I don’t get scared while writing, but sometimes my novels enter my dream space at night and that’s scary.
What’s creepier to you: an anonymous note, a neighbor who knows too much, or a familiar voice on the other end of the phone?
A familiar voice on the other end of the phone got a really visceral reaction out of me. Strangers are one kind of danger, but the prospect of people I used to know is terrifying.
What’s your favorite “thriller trope” to write or read?
I love locked room thrillers, especially when they locked in at a snowy mountain resort together. I’ve watched a lot of shark movies and my favorite thing is that they somehow have to keep getting people in the water so that the sharks can eat them. Locked room thrillers have the same problem. How do you get everyone in the same space to be murdered?
Tasha Coryell’s debut novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer was released in 2024. Tasha holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in composition and rhetoric from the University of Alabama. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, son, and greyhound. In her spare time, she likes to run, cross stitch, and watch copious amounts of television.