I really enjoyed this book. It's the fisrt I read of Kat Dunn and I can say I will be cheking her other works.

The first thing that stood out for me was the narration, I'm not a big fan of first person narrative, but in this case I don't have any complaint. Reading from Lenore's point of view was quite satisfying, seeing her becoming more sure of herself, and all the changes she goes through the book.

I liked her dynamic with Carmilla, I won't say much because spoilers, but I flew through the scenes where they were both present. And honestly, Carmilla said all the things I thought about the characters, so it was entertaining seeing on page someone telling the things that to me were obvious, and causing a little drama, of coures.

Which leads me to say that this book was predictable, but in this case it isn't something bad, the author made a good job excecuiting the plot points and the metaphores throughout the book, so that compensates a lot, besides the fact that the ending was satisfactory.

The only thing that fell short for me is that I would've liked the ending to be developed a little bit more. All in all, it was a good book and I'd totally recommend it.

Hungerstone pulled me in from page one. Set during the Industrial Revolution, it follows Lenore, whose marriage to Henry is strained by a terrible secret from one of his hunts—a secret that hangs over them like a dark cloud. Things only get more complicated when the mysterious Carmilla shows up, pale by day and strangely alive at night. She awakens a desire in Lenore that makes her question everything she thought she wanted, even as she tries to mend her fractured relationship with Henry.

What I loved most is how this book flips the classic vampire trope on its head in a truly atmospheric way. The gothic setting, the growing tension between Lenore and Carmilla, and the unearthed secrets all combine to create a haunting, sensual story that digs into themes of identity, longing, and the hunger we sometimes fear acknowledging. If you’re after a moody read steeped in the eerie shadows of the past, Hungerstone is absolutely worth picking up.

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn will fulfill your hunger for sapphic vampire stories. Although the story started off quite slow, it did not take long for me to be fully engulfed by the characters. I would say it is more character driven than story driven, but who cares when it's SAPPHIC ! VAMPIRES ! Will not forget about this one for quite some time... Thank you so much NetGalley for providing an E-Arc!

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn is a retelling of carmilla set in the back-drop of the British Industrial Revolution. The tale follows Lenore as she travels to Sheffield with her husband and on the way they encounter a woman who has been in a terrible carriage accident.

Hungerstone has incredible potential to be a really strong carmilla-inspired story. The inclusion of the Industrial Revolution is an excellent background and is rich with history and stories that can be used to propel the classic story of Carmilla even further.

However, Dunn falls short in every aspect.

The plot for this book was weak and the characters had no substance. The backdrop of the Industrial Revolution is not used to its fullest and realistically the time period did not need to be changed. I was incredibly disappointed by this book as I was super excited to read it.

The one thing that Dunn does do well, however, is the way she captures the feminine rage. The anger and injustice of women throughout history and how women are viewed as hysterical.

Arguably, if you’re looking for a book about feminine rage which has a mild undercurrent of industrial history and sapphics then this book is for you. However, if you want a book with strong characters, relationship, and plot, I would look elsewhere.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the ARC for this book!

This was very good albeit a little slow in parts. I wanted more Carmilla and I felt it was more character driven than plot driven. The prose was exquisite. Several "wtf???" moments that were delicious.

If sapphic vampires and female rage are your thing, definitely give this one a go.

Thank you to the publisher, Zando, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This is a story of hunger. Of making yourself small, ignoring your wants and needs to only please someone else, and then finding out that they do not appreciate you and your sacrifices. This is a story of the anger that arises from that and a hunger that feels like starving when you have ignored your own wants for so long. This is also a story about misogyny, both internal and external. It is also a story, as with Dunn's last book, Bitterthorn, of loneliness and how debilitating it can be, how desperate it can make you.

This story is not a faithful retelling of Carmilla. It is more of a complete reimagining that has taken inspiration from other gothic books of the time. It is also not that well-paced. It takes a long time for things to happen, and it's also somewhat repetitive in the middle.

This is also not a traditional vampire story. There's one scene where Carmilla possibly drinks blood from Lenore and another where she refuses to walk on sacred ground, but the vampire aspect is left for the reader to interpret. So if you want "explicit" vampire content, this is most likely not a book for you. Carmilla is more about hunger and desire. She awakens that in women, often in grotesque and gruesome ways. She is perhaps a manifestation of what vampires truly represent in literature.

She is both entrancing and repulsive, and her relationship with Lenore goes from disgust to want in rapid succession. I personally wanted more scenes with them, and more relationship development, although I realise it was not really the focus of this book. This book is more about Lenore, herself.

The setting is very typical of gothic literature. A crumbling mansion in the middle of the moors, isolated and resistant to being fixed.

Beyond Lenore's relationship with Carmilla, there is no other representation.

Four stars due to the slow pacing, otherwise the rating would perhaps be higher.

I loved everything about this book. A little "Crimson Peak" with a little "Nosferatu" fueled by female rage and sapphic vampire desires. The writing was so vivid and colorful that I could place myself in Lenore's life.

Hungerstone is a feminist retelling of Carmilla with a very morally grey protagnist. The novel's central focus is contemplating women's desire and hunger.

It took me a second to get into the tone/style of this book because in the early pages, it feels a bit put on. Once I acclimated, I found myself really vibing with it and curious to see what would happen.

It was a fun, thrilling read, but I wished the novel was structured a little differently. (The flashbacks feel like they were interspersed within the story a bit too randomly. The first half feels slow.) I also wished we got more of Carmilla.

“To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend.”
“Disappointment tells us what we truly wanted. And to want is to be alive.”
Quick synopsis: A retelling story of Carmilla. Lenore is a 30 year old married woman in the 1880s when a carriage crashes and an injured Carmilla needs to be nurses back to health. Carmilla helps Lenore unleash a hunger she didn’t know she had (female rage).
Review: I wanted to like this more than I did and I will admit some parts were really good, but there was a lot of boring parts too. I liked that in this version Carmilla and Lenore are older and not young teens. The first 50% of this book was quite boring and the setup was exactly as the original Carmilla essentially so I felt like I was reading a story I have already loved and read. However about 50% way into the story it started getting more interesting and the pacing picked up… but then it fell again. I felt like there were many unnecessary flashbacks and the pacing was just too slow. It took too long to capture my attention and once it was it was very easily lost again. I enjoyed the ending, it was abrupt but it was definitely a good for her moment. Another problem I had was there was not enough delving into the relationship of Carmilla and Lenore. I wanted more toxic relationship but somehow Carmilla kept disappearing and I was a little dissatisfied with that. I wanted lesbian vampires, there was one very good scene though wink wink but otherwise fell flat.

Only giving this a 4 stars because the first half of the book was rough to get into haha. The writing itself is very different from what I usually read, and it felt like it dragged initially. But Kat Dunn came through in the second half of the book and all I can say is GET HIM 😂

This book also lead me to research a bit more into the Carmilla lore and I am very intrigued/shocked that I didn’t know a female vampire storyline was actually written well before Dracula (sigh patriarchy) l love her, I loved this. Thank you as always to NetGalley for the ARC of this!

Thank you NetGalley and Zando for an ARC of this book!

“Hungerstone” follows Lenore, a woman whose marriage to a man named Henry has gone downhill. The couple moves to the countryside of London, where they meet Carmilla. As the couple become more captivated with their new friend, and the town around them they begin to realize something sinister is going on. The novel essentially tracks Lenore’s balance between the revitalization of her marriage and the distraction of Carmilla and her new surroundings.

Ultimately this book kind of fell flat for me. I had a fine reading experience, but in no ways will this book stick with me after reading it. I found the characters very hard to access and empathize with, which made the reading process feel very transactional.

This book has been frequently compared to a “Dowry of Blood” by St Gibson, while the books both venture to tell a vampire origin story, “Hungerstone” lacked the originality of a “Dowry of Blood”. I could see myself appreciating “Hungerstone” more if I hadn’t read “A Dowry of Blood” first.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is seeking a plot-driven book and enjoys vampire fiction.

5-STAR READ

Hungerstone is a thrillingly seductive sapphic romance for fans of S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood and Emilia Hart’s Weyward.

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

Set against the violent wilderness of the moors and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution, Hungerstone is a compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the book that inspired Dracula: a captivating story of appetite and desire.


I truly love when female rage is explored in books. It is complex : it isn’t just a response to anger or frustration, but a form of resistance, empowerment, and a direct confrontation with the societal structures that have long tried to silence women’s voices, especially Lenore’s. I find myself rooting for her the whole book.

From one witch to another, good job Kat Dunn! I am now a fan of yours!!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Zando for gifting me with an eARC in exchange for a review which is one of my favorite book of the year!

As a longtime fan of "Carmilla," this was high on my to-read list. Dunn's new iteration is fast-paced with an incredible protagonist. You will follow Lenore on her journey as she acknowledges how much she has yet to "want." I highly recommend for the lesbian/bi representation and for anyone who wants to go on a journey through a moorland.

Thank you to Netgalley and Zando for the digital galley in exchange for my honest review.

Holy hell. What a ride.

Being a retelling of Carmilla, and being one who has recently read other retellings of Carmilla, I found this predictable but never once disappointing.

I was not expecting a descent into madness like this one. All the readers who love an “unhinged woman” book vis a vis Mona Awad or Ottessa Moshfegh, Kat Dunn is your new obsession.

I know I’m looking up Dunn’s entire backlist after this.

4.5/5: Lenore is a perfect housewife who will do anything to please her husband and keep his temper benevolent. Henry, wants to climb the societal ladder at any cost. Together they host a hunt on an estate in the wilderness of the moors. Before reaching their destination they encounter a carriage accident holding an unconscious woman. Bringing her in, the woman becomes a danger to the life Lenore has built for herself. Soon, Lenore starts to hunger for something more.

I rather enjoyed this rendition of a vampire. So often today, vampires are no longer shrouded in the horror and mystery that they used to be in. This novel gives the horror of what a vampire is supposed to be - a ghost whose hunger is never satiated.

There were moments I felt truly terrified and moments where I felt Lenore’s anger. Truly a captivating read from front to back.

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

"Hungerstone" is a haunting and atmospheric novel that masterfully blends Gothic elements with a deeply intimate and eerie narrative. The prose is lush and evocative, immersing the reader in the unsettling yet seductive world of the story.

The novel excels in creating an atmosphere of dread and mystery. Through its isolated setting and vividly described scenes, Hungerstone pulls you into a shadowy realm where reality and the supernatural blur. The narrative is marked by its slow-building tension, favoring psychological unease over overt horror. Its exploration of themes like desire, trust, and the unknown gives the story an emotional depth that resonates long after you are done with it.

Dunn's ability to craft complex, enigmatic characters adds further intrigue, ensuring the book lingers after you close it, that you won't be able to forget it so easily.

It's the perfect book for fans for vampire literature, offering a love story that will definitely haunt you.

If there’s two things I love it’s feminine rage and sapphic vampires and this book had a little of both. It did start out kind of slow and it took me a bit to really get invested but I ended up really enjoying this by the end.

Carmilla reimaginings will always work for me and this book is no different. The exploration of being a woman and having a hunger for something greater was executed impeccably. The moments where this book leans into being more horror really drive this theme home. This book really speaks to how being a woman or femme disenfranchises you, and in the case of white woman places you on a pedestal if you're willing to conform. If you want to read a book that expresses feminine rage with a sapphic and horror twist this is a must read.

CW: Gore, death of a bird on page, cannibalism, on page death and murder, blood, pica

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, a big thank you for the advance reader copy of this book. I was extremely excited to read it, and it didn't disappoint. In fact, this is one of the most captivating reads I've picked up this year.

A feminist reimagining of Carmilla, Hungerstone is a gothic, sapphic romance and it swept me into its dark, seductive world, blending forbidden love, eerie secrets, and an atmosphere so rich you can almost taste the moors (IYKYK).

Lenore is trapped in a loveless marriage to Henry, a steel magnate whose ambition knows no bounds. Their move to the isolated Nethershaw manor should be a fresh start, but it only deepens the chasm between them.

Enter the mysterious Carmilla, and Lenore becomes drawn to her in ways she can't explain -- or resist.

The novel brilliantly intertwines themes of power, desire, and the weight of buried truths. As Lenore unravels her family's dark secrets and grapples with her growing hunger for Carmilla, the story builds to an unforgettable crescendo.

On top of it all, this writing is chef's kiss. I devoured every word, pun intended.

Hear me when I say this. 2025 will be the year that vampires books return. It will also be the year of sapphic vampires in particular! This retelling of Carmilla was fascinating! I really enjoyed the premise and the slow build!

I am just so happy to be back in this genre so often!!!

4.5 stars!