Hannah’s love is spiraling out of control. She needs to start fresh, so why not get a pen pal? Except this pen pal isn’t any ordinary person. William is a convicted serial killer who murdered multiple women. Hannah finds herself falling for William, but will it work out?

This book was a great read. The dynamic between the characters was something I haven’t read before. Hannah and Williams relationship seems bizarre, but definitely interesting! I do think the synopsis revealed a little too much info about the book, especially a spoiler. Overall I rate this book 3.5⭐️

I loved the premise of this book.
I thought it was super different and i was super excited! I think it started out super strong right from chapter one. I wanted to
Complain about all the bad decisions that Hannah was making but Clearly she’s had some psychological issues lol.
Around the middle it kind of lost me , and unfortunately it was a bit predictable.
Overall i thought it was an entertaining read.

I very much enjoyed the character development of Hannah - her lack of direction in life, parental pressure, struggling to stay on top of life and bills. And in comes a serial killer - true crime forums, blood lust, a desperate need for connection.
It just fell so flat for me.

When handsome lawyer, Wesley, is arrested for a series of murders, recently ghosted thirty-something Hannah begins writing him letters as an outlet for both her frustration at her failure to launch, and her feminist rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first - until Wesley writes back….

Hannah is struggling in all areas of her life - lost motivation at work, her best friend is getting married, her boyfriend (if you call him that) is starting to ghost her. She’s feeling lonely and angry and takes out that negative energy by writing to William, a man charged with murder. She becomes completely obsessed and loses touch with the life she has right in front of her. I found the synopsis of this story to be interesting and couldn’t wait to read it, but I struggled with how unlikable Hannah was. In the words of my 8 year old, her character was “cringe”. The ending was pretty wild, but enjoyable. Dropping everything to follow a stranger on trial? It’s a pretty crazy story so I wouldn’t go into this one taking it too seriously.

I received a gifted galley of LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER by Tasha Coryell for an honest review. Thank you to PRH Audio, Berkley Publishing Group, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER follows Hannah, a young woman who becomes obsessed by true crime. She begins writing to William, a man accused of being a serial killer while he is in jail awaiting trial. Initially she believes in his guilt, but even though he doesn’t argue the point, he does write back. Hannah begins to question things and she starts looking into his case.

Soon, Hannah is obsessed by William’s case and she finds herself falling for this man. When the charges against William must be dropped, Hannah must confront her feelings for a man she never believed she would see out from behind bars even as she continues to try to investigate his potential life as a serial killer.

This was one of those books that you just want to yell at the main character. Hannah is so quickly drawn in by William and by the idea of falling for a man she can never have. Bad decisions abound in this book! I will admit this made it hard for me to feel like rooting for Hannah at times.

I did find the ideas introduced to be very interesting and it definitely had me intrigued to figure out what was really going on in William’s life. The author did manage to hit me with a few unexpected twists as well!

The ending of this story knocked me off my boots and left me SHOCKED. I was incredibly hooked from this book from start to finish, but I loved it even more after everything came together, piece by piece. It was an incredible experience!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would give this story a 3.5 🌟 out of 5.

Getting into the head of someone who falls in love with a serial killer is the draw to this story. And it is a warped mind indeed.

The alternating timeline enhances the mystery element.

The main character is hard to connect with. And this is by design, due to a person who falls in love with a serial killer is someone who is easily manipulated. And I hated watching the character be manipulated. The author did an excellent job portraying this character that is highly susceptible to being manipulated, but also attention seeking behavior and self-destructive. But she is overall just a horrible person.

Wowwwwwww!!!!! This has to be one of the best ARCs I’ve read in a long time! I honestly did not know where this story was going to take me but I was addicted from the very first page! I have never read a story like this but it was just so damn good! The whole time I caught myself being stuck between feeling bad for certain characters and thinking they’re complete idiots. What a wild ride this legit felt like I was watching this whole story play out in front of me, it just felt so real! If you’re looking for something thrilling, unique and completely wtf worthy this is it! I hope this author writes more books because I will be the first in line to read them!

Thank you Netgallery for the ARC of this book!
Hannah is someone who seems like she will never be happy. She expects more from boyfriends than they are willing to give, reads more into relationships than the guys she's with, but seems to be stuck with her own crazy thoughts.
She starts hearing about murdered girls that keep showing up in the same area. Hannah becomes obsessed with these murders and trying to help solve the cases. The whole ordeal takes over her life, causing her to get fired.
Once William is arrested for the murders, she starts writing to him in jail. She is so invested in hoping he really was the killer that she takes what is left of her money to drive to his trial and stay the whole time. At this point they have become boyfriend/girlfriend. She loves the idea that he may have done this.
Once acquitted, she is still trying to figure out how he killed these girls. There is a huge twist where the actual killer is revealed and Hannah isn't sure whether she likes the thought of being with an accused serial killer or the actual killer..because nothing ever seems enough for her.
It was a great read that made me question everyone throughout the book! I really enjoyed it!

This one won’t be for everyone, but damn I really liked it. I’ve always been fascinated by those women who write letters to convicted criminals so the premise sounded so interesting to me. What interests me the most is what type of person could actually fall in love with a killer? Getting to know Hannah in this book provided some insight into here and while I could never claim to understand her motivations, this did provide a unique look into exactly how it could happen. She’s not relatable, and she’s not all that likable either but I could not stop reading about. She’s an unhinged train wreck and I couldn’t wait to see what she would do next. This has three parts and the middle section did drag a little for me but part three truly sucked me back in. Things really start to go off the rails and while parts of the conclusion were a little predictable, I was pretty satisfied by how it all ended. Try this if you want something different, or something character driven or even if you’re like me and want to know what kind of women writes love letters to a man facing a murder trial.

United States Publication: June 25, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this advanced reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Thirty-something Hannah is feeling stuck in life. She's in a dead-end job, no man seems to want to keep her around past the booty call, and her parents seem mostly dissatisfied with her. So, when a string of murders grips the nation's interest, Hannah finds herself sucked into one of the numerous online boards dedicated to "assisting" the police department with their investigations. It gives her something to focus on that isn't her own dismal life. And when she takes it a step further and starts communicating with the suspect in custody, making clear she believes he's guilty, she begins to thrive not just survive. Maybe. Her obsession with the murders, and now with the murderer, results in Hannah losing her dead-end job and her last-minute decision to drive to Atlanta from Minnesota and attend the trial of her boyfriend, suspected serial murderer William Thompson. She's 50/50 on whether William is guilty or not and believes that being in Atlanta will help her decide his guilt, regardless of what the jury decides. What is William's end game? For that matter, what is Hannah's end game?

Coryell crafts a fictional account of what seems to be one way women and men get enmeshed with murderers. They start corresponding with the criminal, sometimes out of a need to express their outrage and sometimes out of a weird compulsion for the "bad boy/girl," and eventually, that communication leads to much more than they anticipated, especially when they are at first reaching out to the inmate with outrage. It's weird. The dedication at the beginning of the book says, "To anyone who has ever felt unappreciated," and the idea of being and/or feeling unappreciated is one that runs throughout the book, specifically with the character of Hannah. But that is one of the reasons the book doesn't get higher marks from me, Hannah. She's a little annoying. In some of the ways she isn't feeling appreciated, it is by her own hand; she's a master at self-sabotage. She is also a portrait of every complaint that has ever been uttered about millennials. It's a little too on the nose for me. By part three of the book, I was tired of Hannah and kind of wishing someone would kill HER. The book also ended on a lackluster note, in my opinion, which also accounts for the rating I ultimately give it. Despite my annoyance with Hannah, I did enjoy the story overall.

It was an easy and entertaining read. It had its moments of comedy, intrigue, cringe, deadly fantasies, and obsession. Hannah is a woman in her 30s and she feels like she is failing in life. Her loneliness drove her to get into an unhealthy and dangerous relationship. As a true crime fan, I understand the pull that true crime has, but how Hannah got involved really crossed a line. I found myself saying “Girl no” multiple times.

The outcome of the story was predictable, but I enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I don't think I was expecting much from this book, but OH MY GOD I loved it! The plot was so unique and it was an absolute thriller that I couldn't put down. Top 5 of my reads this year, hands down.

I just finished Tasha’s debut and immediately preordered a copy. I loved Hannah’s hilarious narrative. It was fun to live vicariously through her bad decisions, while also nudging her on to keep at it. Her story thrilled me from the first sentence all the way to that final twist on the last page. I relished in how relatable she was, and after everything happened with William, I felt like I went through a breakup myself! I’m even in a bit of a slump now.

This story, an unsettling deep dive of ordinary people obsessed with true crime, while fantasizing about serial killers, was an excellent escape that had me laughing and cheering her on all the way through. Sure, I called one of the main twists earlier on, but I kept reading and loving the story because of Hannah’s voice. Her quirky, unnerved and dangerous perspective kept me flipping the pages. Carole’s support and voicemails were a close second.

Don’t sleep on this story! I predict that it will hit several summer must read lists in the weeks to come. A refreshing debut. I can’t wait to follow Tasha’s writing journey.

3.25 Stars

I mean if the title and cover don’t already give it away, the main character is nutty. The synopsis gives too much away and there isn’t much to add that isn’t there. In the real world, I would be saying we need to find a mental health professional for Hannah. In this fictitious one, I was repeating WTFs and uttering “you’re batshit crazy” while laughing as I turned the pages. This book, and this character, are obviously not meant to be taken seriously, and that is what made it so fun.

DNF at 20%. I was intrigued by the concept and had seen some great reviews for Love Letters to a Serial Killer. Unfortunately the execution didn’t work for me - the main character felt like a mean stereotype of single women. Thank you to Berkley and PRH Audio for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

I'm not sure who the target audience was here: the ~unhinged~ woman/messy millennial girls? the dark romance readers? thriller fans? It failed on all counts.

I’m not normally a big thriller reader, and I tend to not love books where at every page you are screaming at the main character to make better decisions, but I enjoyed this one! The pacing was great, and chapters were short. I did feel like the ending was predictable, and I wish it had been a different conclusion, but overall it was a quick, interesting read.

This was a unique story and I was excited to read it but I found it hard to keep me entertained. It just felt like too much detail into Hannah and her life. It started to feel more like a romcom than thriller until you get near the end. I figured it out early on which was sort of a bummer but I don’t think I’d feel that way if more of the story focused on the serial killer aspect rather than Hannah’s life. It just lacked that suspense that I like in a thriller. Worth the read if you like a mix of romance and serial killers.

I love the feeling of not being able to tear myself away from a book and being totally immersed in the story. Love Letters does exactly that and I listened to it every moment I could. Andi Arndt is a fantastic narrator and made the audiobook an all consuming experience. The author writes in a compelling way that grabs your attention and her characters are beautifully flawed. I was fascinated by the psychological aspects of the plotline and I wondered if letters like these happen in real life and what the results are? It's a unique thought-provoking storyline that captured my attention and I'm looking forward to reading more from Tasha in the future.