There was not a single moment in this book where I knew what was going to happen. The premise was so incredibly intriguing and I appreciate the subtlety of the vampire element, however, for me I would have loved it if it played an even larger part in the novel. I did feel the story dragged a little between 40-70% but from 80% onwards I was unable to put it down. The ending was very neat while still leaving some questions for the reader to ponder on (without them becoming too frustrated). Overall a wonderfully enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

y'all know how I feel about Carmilla. lesbian vampires. GOTHIC lesbian vampires. not only did Hungerstone deliver this in troves, it expanded on this. the way Kat Dunn delved into the realm of women's hunger and appetites that are so often suppressed, had me looking at my life and asking, for what do I hunger? how she exemplified hunger, from the consuming of hair, to flesh, to the leg of a chair. Carmilla's visceral impact on the people around her was fascinating, and something entirely unique to Dunn's imagination.

my only complaint is I wish we'd had more time with Carmilla, and less time of Lenore flashing back to the Aunt Daphne. this is a personal problem though, i'd rather see more gayness than whining. other than that - the prose was exquisite, the atmosphere tangible, and Henry? oh girl. he deserved worse. Lenore's growth was wonderful, and I wish we could've seen even more of it at the end.

oh boy this was really fun! it took a while for it to get going and it wasn’t as atmospheric and/or creepy as i expected it to be, but it was still pretty good nonetheless. i really liked lenore (more so than carmilla, who i wish was a little bit more defined as a character) and the ending was just deeply satisfying, so yeah. a big win for sapphic vampire enthusiasts!

“I am a woman woken from thirty years slumber, and I would eat the world should it satisfy this empty, keening void where my heart should be.”

“Hungerstone” is a Carmilla retelling that explores the meaning of hunger, desire and liberation. I’m going to be honest, it’s been years since I read “Carmilla” so my memory of it was hazy, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying this book - I absolutely devoured it.

The story follows Lenore - a woman stuck in a loveless, decaying marriage to a cold man, a union stranded by her inability to give him a child. Lenore’s life has never been a happy one. Orphaned after a tragic accident that haunts her still, left at her aunt’s mercy. She’s been overwhelmingly lonely and never experienced real love. She grew up learning to make herself small and insignificant. In her marriage, she represses her desires while meticulously fulfilling her wifely duties, clinging to the societal status she worked so hard to achieve.

Everything changes when on a stormy night, Lenore and her husband encounter a carriage accident while travelling to their new home. They rescue a mysterious woman, Carmilla, who becomes a guest at their mansion while she recovers. Carmilla is strange and unsettling but at the same time becomes an unlikely friend to Lenore, pushing her to face her buried hunger.

“You are feeding the wrong hunger.”

The first half of this book is very slow, but I don’t mean that in a negative way. I was completely immersed in Lenore’s quiet, mundane days as she slowly starts to realise her life is crumbling around her. This is my first book by Kat Dunn and definitely not the last. The prose is stunning, perfectly crafting the gothic, haunting atmosphere.

If you’re looking for stories about female rage, you need to pick up Hungerstone.
This book has it all - pure feminist rage, sapphic vampires, revenge AND killing men. You know I love to see women in male dominated fields ;)

“Men conspiring in dark little holes like vermin, chittering their spiteful thoughts to one another, make the world like this, hurt people like that. I hate them I hate them I hate them.”

tightly claustrophobic and intense as a novel. carmilla is one of my favorite classics, and hungerstone brings the same vibes into a dramatic and more fully elaborated novel. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Hungerstone is a novel that can be read in one sitting, capable of immersing the reader in the pages and making the story come alive, thanks mainly to Kat’s writing style, which is not only objectively excellent and well-crafted, but also manages to portray bloody or sexy situations without descending into vulgarity. The story develops well, sticking to the plot and how we expect it to unfold, without ever becoming trivial or predictable. The characters are not written to please you and to act how you would them to, but to feel real. Every single choice and line must be questioned until the end; I wouldn’t go so far as to say the narrative is unreliable, but it’s certainly not an open book - I loved this aspect. The ending I highly appreciated, consistent with the development of the story and the protagonist's character arc.

I am so excited for this book to come out and sit along side and be praised with other sapphic gothic stories. I absolutely loved the atmosphere of this book and love the concept of a Carmilla retelling with even more suspense.

Thank you so much to Zando and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review!

-

4 stars - a slow simmering yet gripping story about hunger, choice and rage

“Pain and blood, grief and hunger. To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend.”

Hungerstone is a bit outside of my usual comfort zone, and I am so glad I followed my gut and gave it a chance. Came for the Carmilla retelling, stayed for the way it shook me with its twists and turns.
It felt a bit slow and heavy to read at times, but the writing is beautiful and detailed and I felt like I really got to see the world through the eyes of the female main character as I was reading. The story is angry and weary and fearful, and at the core of it all is the returning theme of hunger.

“To want is to surrender to uncertainty. To step into the unknown.”

I don’t have the words to explain how or why or what worked for me in this story, it just did. It will stay with me for a while as I process and chew on it, and perhaps one day I will return to it and better be able to put into words why it resonated with me as much as it did.

“What is a monster but a creature of agency?”

Absolutely loved this. It was so sensual and mysterious and had me hooked right from the first pages. I loved the way the story developed (it added to the sensual elements) and found it really hard to put down

I LOVE that the sapphic vampire romance genre is growing, and this is an excellent addition to the list!

Sooo good! It definitely dragged a little in the middle but i think that was part of the effect of feeling exactly what Lenore felt throughout the book. I was filled with hunger, loneliness, desire, and rage right alongside Lenore. More sapphic vampire stories pls

I was immediately gripped by the writing in this book. It was lyrical, strong, and so atmospheric that I was immediately teleported into the story. The narrative voice was so strong that I was there, feeling Lenore’s growing rage over her husbands dismissal of her domestic labour and the pains of being a wife that go unacknowledged. I loved the metaphor of blood woven throughout the book from the first line, and how blood is a constant for many women. This entire book felt like a dark and stormy night, a classic 19th century sort of gothic.

Wow, this book was so good!! The writing and characterization of the main character was incredible. I felt so in her shoes at every point of the book, filled with hunger, loneliness, desire, and rage right alongside her. This book is sapphic, but it’s much less about the sapphic relationship rather than the main character developing her agency and carving out the life she wants for herself. I absolutely loved her fierceness, but also definitely would have loved to see more longing/lust/romance for Carmilla! So this gets a 4.5 rounded up for me, but I definitely recommend it.

Also a note that while it leans more towards horror, it’s more bodily violence and gore rather than frightening plot lines.

🌈Queer rep: pan/bi female main character, FF relationship.

Hungerstone is such a good book. I had the time of my life reading it. Such a good read! I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can.

This book is everything I wanted it to be and more! It has all the elements I loved about Camilla and puts them in a context so very relatable to me it feels personal. The writing is beautiful, the way the story unfolds is deeply satisfying and I could taste vindication and triumph in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hungerstone is 100% for fans of Carmilla and is a very solid retelling of that story. This was a very exciting novel with plenty of yearning that you’d expect from a vampire story. I couldn’t get enough of this one!

Thank you Netgalley for the E- arc of this upcoming read!

This was ok for me, I will be honest. At some point, the carmilla and dracula retellings are getting a bit much. This reminded me alot of
'An Education in Malice', both in tone and inspiration. However, this did not keep me as hooked. I tried with this

3.5 stars
This was definitely a very honorable retelling of Carmilla but it just wasn't really for me or really what I was looking for. The vibes, plot-line, and just everything was 100% Carmilla, just expanding the world more. However, I think I'm kind of done with the whole women going crazy thing. Of course, I know that this isn't really what this book was about. It was about a woman finding her freedom in a stifling and abusive marriage, but I just wanted more vampires. I wish this book had leaned more heavily into the whole vampire aspect and maybe Lenore could have used some of that new "strength" to fuel her rage and kill her husband. Carmilla herself was also so infuriating as a character. She refused to be truthful with Lenore and even though I understand that Lenore had to find her voice and strength on her own, Carmilla was just being so secretive that it seemed manipulative. I don't know, maybe I just didn't fully understand this book, and maybe I'm just really jaded with the world right now, but this just didn't hit with me. Technically I know it was really well done, but I just couldn't love it.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like the OG Carmilla, but not to people who want a bloody stereotypical vampire book.

It took me a while to finish this one because I literally didn’t want it to end! The tension and yearning was simply incredible. Lesbian vampires are always win in my book (pun intended). Sexy and thrilling.. I CANT WAIT to get a physical copy.

Hungerstone is written from Lenore's first person POV and begins with Lenore waking from a dream about a woman with a heart shaped face. Shortly after, Lenore and her husband Henry make their way to their newly purchased remote country estate and come across a lone woman involved in an apparent carriage accident. They take the woman to their new home to recover, and shortly after Lenore begins to experience odd dreams & a mysterious illness.
I absolutely loved this book, I loved Lenore, I loved Carmilla, and fuck Henry. Lenore was a marvelously written woman, fed up with where her life has ended up but unsure what to do about it until she meets Carmilla. Carmilla is a mysterious, mischievous woman who does not follow society's rules, and doesn't want Lenore to either.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, I cannot wait to read more by this author.