A historical story of a bored wife. Lady Lenore Crowther, in a bland childless marriage and her husband, Henry, a man not above suspicion; but enter into their life, a wrecked crash victim in white. Carmilla. This is just what Lenore needs- the woman of her dreams. Quite literally.

A slow build with almost a smirk when Carmilla is introduced, as the reader you know what’s going to happen next with the tension building between the two. And the predictability didn’t take away from the story. There are scenery descriptions that feel trivial , almost like paragraphs you want to skip as the characters are the real stars of the story. There are some interesting moments, clever reveals, but the space between moves too slowly as the reader is mostly in the mind of Leonore. As her same thoughts bothered her and I could feel myself spacing out, wanting more.

It is almost a descent of madness for Leonore, like an old black and white movie, picturing an Ingrid Bergman like character in the middle of her seven year itch. Not quite a feminine rage, as Leonore isn’t quite the perfect victim. I felt my own descent of madness from the first person pov, as Leonore was our only perspective and her thoughts never really varied.

Yes the book is called Hungerstone, the references for her desire and being “hungry”, was a little bit of an overkill. Like we get it. Maybe it was the wrong moment to read this but I wish I had liked this more. The stagnant pacing for most of the book and the repetition from the first person POV just got to me too much.

i loved carmilla when i first read it at 15, and i loved this book in much the same way: the rising tension, the capital-R Romance of it all and of course, carmilla herself. hungerstone delivers the Gothic, the sickness, the hunger and yearning, and the retribution lenore delivers made me want to stand up and clap. what a delight this was!

Atmospheric, immersive, intense.

I was so excited to read this book, and my excitement was justified I'd say!

First of all, I liked the plot. I adored A Dowry of Blood, so finding another book with a similar vibe was amazing, and this one did not disappoint. The atmosphere really pulls you in and the way the characters and scenes are written, since we see everything through Lenore’s perspective, is so effective. You can feel the claustrophobia she’s trapped in, the monotony, the suffocation of her life. The idea of hunger here is so much more than just bloodlust. This is a story of a woman hungering for more, for better, a story of female rage.

I also really liked how Carmilla wasn’t given too much space. Just the right amount of romance. Lenore’s journey was the main focus, as it should be.

That said, I did feel like the glimpses into Lenore’s past, the flashbacks, were a little lacking, and the explanation of her trauma could have been better. But maybe that was intentional, maybe it reflects how Lenore herself tries to shut it down.

As for the pacing, I think some readers might find parts of the book slow, but I actually liked that. It put me right in Lenore’s state of mind. I read the entire book in one sitting and I was never bored.

My only real complaint is the ending. It happened, but it didn’t feel quite big enough for the buildup. I wanted more from the climax. Also, the theme of industrialization was interesting, but I don’t have many thoughts on it beyond that it was a good addition, just not what stood out to me the most.

I can’t speak on how it compares to the original Carmilla, but as a standalone, it was solid. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! I’d recommend!

That perfect mix of fear and desire? Dunn absolutely nails it. But this isn’t just a modern retelling; Carmillla

The writing is lush, the atmosphere is dripping with eerie tension, and the whole thing feels both timeless and fresh. With its mix of historical depth and supernatural intrigue, Hungerstone isn’t just a tribute to gothic horror—it’s a bold, unforgettable take on it.

Update: Release-day review on TikTok
Hungerstone delivers an entertaining gothic treat with a lush Sapphic / bisexual awakening. This is a fast, sexy, and moving read with strong atmosphere, suspense and dark surprises.

The sensuality, creepiness, and tragic underpinnings build at a good pace. There's lush, beautiful writing and a powerful exploration of desire, agency, and appetite.

The characters intrigued me. Lenore, as an intelligent, unfillfilled, overburdened wife is complex in appealing ways. I found her indecisiveness and ambivalence believable for her circumstances, time, and place. Women had even less protection under the law in the nineteenth century than they do now.

The juxtaposition of gritty industrialization imagery and vampirism offered up strong moments. Kat Dunn has written an unusual book that's well worth reading. I’m picky about vampire books and avoid the mundane ones. Hungerstone is something different. The strong themes and memorable horrific scenes built to a well-earned ending. I’d read another book by Dunn.

Recommended for readers who enjoy vampires, historical fiction, medium horror with some squelchy details, and open-door scenes.

Thank you, Zando for the eARC for consideration. These are solely my own opinions.

i love carmilla retellings, especially when they’re sapphic, and this one solidly fits the bill. it feels classically victorian in writing style and wonderfully toys with that line between fear and desire and what it means for a woman to take what she wants and claim her freedom in a society where she’s taught that the greatest she can aspire to is captive safety. give me more women doing unhinged and terrible things!!

Lush and evocative, this book brings forth an insatiable hunger in both the characters and the reader. Pure female rage and exhilaration radiates from Hungerstone. Excellent characterization and plot, wonderful development, and a satiating conclusion.

I will NEVER say no to a sapphic vampire book and this one was beautifully gothic and atmospheric as well. @katalicedunn creates such vivid imagery in her stories that you truly feel like you’re alongside Lenore in the ancient Nethershaw manor.

the eeriness was a constant companion to this story and it put me on edge in the best way. I wanted so badly for Lenore to wake up from her life and know that she was deserving of more.
enter Carmilla, my devilish angel.
the more impenetrable and controlled Lenore forced herself to become, the more insistent Carmilla was to poke holes in her facade. Carmilla always found a way to drop a bread crumb or two of truths that would send Lenore’s head spinning, beckoning her to find the answers Lenore had always desired for herself but never dared to look for.

my rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

all in all, this was such a good read! Hungerstone is a journey of self-acceptance, rage, and desire. proof that even a vampire, driven by her thirst for blood, can be the voice of reason in this situation.😌

also it releases in the US today!

thank you @netgalley and @zandoprojects for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Between Nosferatu and Hungerstone, 2025 is THE year of the vampire. A seductive twist on a gothic classic, Hungerstone pulls you deep into a world of hunger, yearning, and dangerous secrets. This retelling of Carmilla is as dark and mysterious as it is empowering, with themes of female rage and self-discovery that resonate powerfully. With rich character growth and a mysterious, brooding atmosphere, this book will leave you captivated and craving more. Perfect for fans of feminist reimaginings, gothic suspense, and lesbians and their yearning.

I cannot wait to read Kat Dunn's previous works!

Also, whoever designed this cover deserves a raise... Like a serious one.

4.5 ⭐️ Like lesbian Nosferatu but without all the back sores <3

Thank you, NetGalley and Zando, for an early ARC.

This was so good, honestly the vibes were immaculate throughout.
Female rage, women behaving badly, and just a great creepy atmosphere. So enjoyable, I ate it up!

I wasn’t aware of the Carmilla story before, so I am not sure on the references etc. but I still loved it and don’t think you need to know in order to enjoy the book.

I could not out this down each time I picked it up to read. And the story stuck with me when I wasn’t reading.

The themes about want, revenge, and patriarchy were so well done and entwined with the story. It made for such an immersive read.

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Genre: Horror
Themes: hunger as metaphor, workers’ rights, female rage/oppression
Pub date: Feb. 18, 2025

Lenore and her business tycoon husband, Henry, have moved from London to the countryside manor Nethershaw, where they are planning a shooting party with society’s elite. A carriage accident near their home brings Carmilla into Lenore’s life — and awakens a hunger deep within Lenore.

Hungerstone is a feminist reworking of Carmilla, the novella that inspired Dracula. Add this one to the popular “female rage” book lists; it is dark, gothic, creepy and fun. Surprisingly, I found the portions about workers’ rights and Henry’s business to be the most interesting.

My biggest issues with Hungerstone were the pacing and structure. The chapters might have worked better by designating the passage of time, such as Six Days Until Shooting Party, Five Days Until Shooting Party, etc., which could have created stronger suspense for readers. Some sections were redundant, repetitively describing everything that needs to be done before the party. Regardless, Hungerstone remains an immersive gothic thriller with class commentary, vampires and sapphic yearning.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Zando for the advanced reader copy of #Hungerstone.

I’m not going to attempt to sound elegant or write this like I do my endless university assignments. This is just a review.

From the beginning, I was hooked. Hungerstone put its teeth in me and would not let go until it had finished with me (at three o’clock in the morning, I’ll have you know).

While this is a contradiction to itself, it felt both slow and incredibly fast, with the climax of the story at the ending. And that climax was absolutely worth it. Thank god, we all got our figurative and metaphorical orgasam.

Being with Lenore felt claustrophobic, suffocating, frustrating and painful - which in true form, made it madly relatable. Any feminine presenting person is likely to find her journey within their own. The patriarchy is glorious, isn’t it my friends? (Ive never been more sarcastic in my life.)

Kat Dunn’s writing is gorgeous. I highlighted well over 100 lines. But toward the end, there were moments where I’d heard the same thing already. But honestly, I’m being nit picky. Because for it all being historical, I did not feel bogged down by it, and for that, I should really thank Kat.

I won’t tell you where to find all the meaning in this novel, but it’s there and there is a message for everyone. I want to pull it apart and dissect each moment and put it back together again.

I love blood. I love sapphic vampires. I love symbolism. I love feminine rage in its purest form. I love taking back power and using grief and anger as strength.

Lenore lives for her husband—to manage his temper, to maintain his reputation, and to run Nethershaw, the crumbling countryside manor his steel-industry wealth has bought. Though their ten-year marriage has produced no children and he no longer visits her bed, Lenore holds his secrets close, determined to be of use. But her strict control threatens to slip when an overturned carriage brings the mysterious Carmilla to Nethershaw. Frail and weak by day, Carmilla stalks the moors with surprising grace at night, her beauty and freedom awakening something dangerous within Lenore’s stifled heart—a vicious hunger that can no longer be ignored.

Hungerstone is truly a book to be savored. The prose is rich and thick, detailed with architecture, food, and dress that embody Victorian excess, and the sense of foreboding that winds through the story evokes gothic classics like du Maurier’s Rebecca and Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Dunn celebrates female desire with brilliant nuance—Hungerstone is utterly delicious in its feminine rage, and the plot is heartbreaking, empowering, violent, and oh-so-satisfyingly bloody in equal measure.

As a character, Carmilla is offbeat and unrestrained—a fantastic counterpoint to Lenore’s rigid concern for propriety and the perfect catalyst for her undoing. Dunn positions Carmilla (and the sapphic vampire in general) as a representation of unbridled wanting, choice, freedom, and animal womanhood, and though I would have enjoyed seeing more of their relationship, Carmilla feels deliberately and cleverly obscure, both there and not there, real and not real, the woman Lenore loves and a metaphor for the hunger and longing within her.

I genuinely loved reading Hungerstone, in part because it so deeply resonated with my experience struggling not only to make choices for myself, but to know myself well enough to understand what those choices should be. If you can relate—if you, like so many women, have ever had to tuck your feelings aside, put on a mask to feel accepted and acceptable, protect yourself with hyper-vigilance, or keep quiet when you wanted to scream—this book was written for you. So get angry, sharpen your teeth, and BITE!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (4.5 stars)

I need to be chased in the woods by Carmilla. For science.

Gothic sapphic vampires who get revenge on men? I mean, I am just a girl.

Hungerstone is a feminist and sapphic retelling of Carmilla. Full disclosure, I have not read Carmilla so this review won't be taking any of the original into account.

Lenore has been Henry's wife for 10 years now and being a wife is all she has known. She runs his home, plans his events, keeps his deadly secrets, and suffers with a cold loveless marriage. A carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into their home and into Lenore's life. Carmilla is strange but alluring and Lenore finds her own hunger growing each day. When girls within their village fall into a sickness of bloody hunger Lenore is caught between staying faithful to her cruel husband or falling deeper into her own dark desire.

Carmilla was so full of desire and temptation, everytime she spoke I highlighted as if my life depended on it. I think Kat Dunn did a fantastic job of capturing her as this dangerous seductive creature. I'm a big fan of vampires written this way. Lenore, oh poor sweet Lenore. The build up for her anger and hunger was fantastic, intertwined with her confusion over her attraction of Carmilla on top of that.

The first half of the story and their interactions were my favorite but I felt the plot got a bit stale halfway through when we focused on the industrial revolution and Henry. Even I the president of hating men got a bit bored with the hating men part. I would have rather that time was spent feeding the romance between Lenore and Carmilla. While I could feel the desire and pull between them it could have been built up more.

I am just the kind of girl where if you promise a romance I will hang onto that like my life depends on it! Overall I am pleased with how this story played out as Lenore finding her own courage and desires outside of what society demands of women. Speaking out which, I especially enjoyed the bloody ending. What could be more satisfying to our hunger? :)

Thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Dunn balances gothic unease with a profound sense of longing, crafting characters who feel achingly real in their pain, desires, and desperation. The story unfolds with an eerie, slow-burn intensity, immersing you in its unsettling world while keeping you utterly hooked.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!!

I absolutely love Kat Dunn!! This was just another example of stellar storytelling!! I’m always here for raging lesbian vampires!!!

We are introduced to Lenore, who is the epitome of perfection in society but is silently, mentally dying behind closed doors. She is the prime example of marrying out of convenience instead of for love. The mysterious and rather odd Carmilla enters Lenore's life, and with that, an insatiable hunger sweeps through the area. Carmilla challenges Lenore to open her eyes and fully see the coffin she's been living in. It's the perfect Carmilla retelling because she is more of a side character than the main event. We get to witness these events through a second pair of eyes.

A loose Carmilla retelling.
Sapphic.
Unearthing your true hunger.
ALL THE FEMME RAGE.
Tying it up with a lush atmosphere.

ahh, carmilla has needed a great retelling for a while. i was always a fan of the concept of the original - lesbian vampires? come on - but i felt like the original work by le fanu was a slog. this? no. in fact, i'd go so far as to say this book was compulsively readable.

this is exactly the kind of female rage book that i wanted to exist in the literary world. (though, let's be real, i will never have too many female rage books.)

hungerstone gives us lenore, a woman who has spent her life struggling to make out a world for herself. she has the social standing but she's penniless - she makes an arrangement to marry for money, her husband for status. with the expectations that she must act like a Good Wife (gross), her husband quickly decides once they pick an ailing carmilla up off the road that he's had enough.

but lenore is so drawn to carmila that it's palpable and honestly, pretty hot. carmilla constantly challenges the rigid rules that lenore has ascribed to herself and have been ascribed to her by the confines of a patriarchal society. carmilla clocks her husband's infidelity, suggests that maybe he isn't the perfect match he seems, especially when he keeps plying lenore to eat sweets covered in a substance that definitely isn't powdered sugar.

i loved the evolution of lenore's rage. i love that she errs on the side of what is polite in society until so much is thrust upon her that she explodes - she explodes at her husband, at the woman she believes him to be cheating with. and from there, she learns out to cleverly navigate the world for her own gain instead of her own survival.