I am a sucker for sapphic vampires and Kate Dunn did not disappoint. This was the perfect rework of the original Carmilla, a classic that is highly underrated, and Hungerstone did a beautiful job at bringing its story back to life with enough uniqueness to make it feel like its own novel. Full of desire, rage, hunger and revenge. So immersive and beautifully crafted. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! Highly recommend adding it to the top of your 2025 TBR!

Trigger Warnings: body gore, death, eating disorders, violence and murder.

hungerstone ultimately finished strong but took me half the book to get invested. the difficult start was largely due to confusion around leonore’s back story and why i should care about her relationships with her husband, carmilla, and cora. pretty much everyone was painted as a villain without substance. i would’ve liked to see more about/from carmilla- even if that ruins some of her vampire mystery. this book is pretty explicitly sapphic which is a nice update from the original but keeps the gothic writing style.

on a personal note: in 2022 i read carmilla for the first time, specifically the edition with notes by carmen maria machado. this is years after my love for the 2014-2016 Carmilla youtube web series produced by U by Kotex. a sapphic vampire story will always be compelling to me for reasons of fear and desire.

thanks zando and netgalley for the eARC.

This was such a wonderful take on empowerment, autonomy and reclaiming hidden desires. Took me a while to finish it but it delivered everything i was hoping it would!

I'm a sucker for book covers that are famous painting, Lesbians, Vampires, and Lesbian Vampires and this was so fun! I loved the way this engaged with the Carmilla story and I will absolutely be picking more up by Kat Dunn.

It's almost difficult for me to review this because Kat Dunn has a way of writing books that resonate so deeply with me. It feels almost too personal, too vulgar to discuss, as recommending her work feels like inviting someone to look into a piece of my soul.

The story is fantastically well researched historical fiction (there are notes at the end of the book discussing what books were studied to write this novel) and the language used truly transports you to the era.

Dunn understands the depth of female rage in a very special way. The quiet violence that women endure, often along with real violence and how it warps them. She perfectly captures the power dynamics in a marriage and how it leads to strain and resentment and how a life can be sucked away because of that lack of balance. The slow building realisation Lenore has through the book of what her marriage truly is had my stomach twisted into knots.

This is a Carmilla retelling and I love the way Carmilla is used in this story as a physical manifestation of Lenore taking control of her life and her clawing hunger for more.

Dunn writes about loneliness in a way that no other writer I've read has been able to achieve. I found myself weeping heavily towards the end of the book during a scene where Lenore laments her lonely life.

I'd recommend this book to anybody who loves sapphic stories, historical fiction, gothic horror, discussions on the female experience and loneliness and satisfying stories of female rage and the hunger for more.

Alright this is going to be an embassingly dumb review...

Before submitting a request I typically read both the description here and on Goodreads. Between the two, I was under the impression the reworking would include there being less vampires... Again, dumb in retrospect.

So for that reason I'm only rating as a 3 on here, and won't be rating on GR or Storygraph or anywhere else I typically would as my not enjoying this was a "me" problem.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Kat Dunn & Zando for the DRC in exchange for my honest review!}

A slow burn gothic horror, reimagining the Carmilla and vampire mythos. Rich atmosphere and silky smooth prose pull you into a sapphic vampire romance, combined with a searing feminine rage.

“To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend”

If your hunger is fed through beautiful prose, sapphic vampires, feminine rage, and eerie, gothic settings then you will eat this up. Don’t read sapphic vampires and go in expecting just a fantasy or romance tale though- this is an atmospheric historical literary fiction. Hungerstone’s sapphic vampires are lurking in the shadows and occasionally slinking out to sink their teeth into you as a reminder of how hungry women can really be. For desire, for power, for control, for release, and for revenge… and he had it coming.

Thank you to Kat Dunn, Zando publishing and Net Galley for serving me a digital ARC that has left me thoroughly satiated.

This was a well crafted, slow building horror book. The author takes a classic story and adds a unique, spin on it. I loved the misdirection. When you think you have a mystery figured out, you don’t. I enjoyed the exploration of dark desires and Lenore’s desperate want to be heard and seen while being forced to remain small. Even after the book ended, I remained hungry for more.

HUNGERSTONE is a story about a woman who is fed up, hungry, and empowered to no longer put up with crap from men or society.

Our main character Lenore learns female rage from our dearest spooky Carmilla and has all the gothic vibes too. Also, you can never go truly totally wrong with gothic vampire lesbians because, apparently that was what I needed to get out of my reading slump!

Let me just say this upfront: sapphic vampires will always have my heart. I devoured this book (pun intended), and Kat Dunn’s take on the Carmilla story is everything I didn’t know I needed. It’s dark, sensual, and packed with tension—both the romantic kind and the “something terrible is definitely lurking in the shadows” kind.

Lenore is such a fascinating protagonist. She’s trapped in this stifling marriage to Henry, weighed down by secrets and expectations, and you can feel her yearning for something more. Enter Carmilla. She’s the perfect mix of seductive and eerie, with that classic vampire allure, but what really stands out is how she stirs something so primal and liberating in Lenore. Their chemistry is intense, and every interaction between them had me holding my breath.

The story is rich with gothic atmosphere—Nethershaw manor practically oozes with dread, and the Industrial Revolution setting adds this extra layer of greed and hunger (both literal and metaphorical). It’s a smart, haunting backdrop that mirrors Lenore’s internal struggles beautifully.

What I loved most, though, is how this book reclaims the lesbian vampire trope. It doesn’t reduce Carmilla to a one-dimensional seductress but gives her real depth and agency. The way Lenore’s unraveling past intertwines with her growing desire for Carmilla makes the story feel so much bigger than just a retelling.

If I had to nitpick, the pacing occasionally slowed in places, especially during Lenore’s reflections, but honestly, that’s a small price to pay for how immersive the rest of the book is.

If you’re into gothic horror with a sapphic twist (and, honestly, who isn’t?), Hungerstone is a must-read. It’s eerie, it’s lush, and it’s the kind of book that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page.

stunning stunning stunning. the sapphics win again! this was absolutely gorgeous and one thing about me is that i will ALWAYS eat up a carmilla retelling. her fresh take was so intriguing, and this is one of those books i will return to time and time again.

I came for the promised sapphic vampire romance and...

Well, I stayed because GOOD FOR HER 👏👏👏

Imo, this was a lot less about being queer in Victorian England, and more about surviving in a patriarchal society, women's agency and (lack of) rights. This is great if that's what you're looking for, but I was hoping for a dark, gothic romance between a vampire and a human that's so toxic that it straddles the line between sexy and ick.

And because of that, I'm honestly kind of disappointed tbh.

I'll admit, I loved that the author did a lot of research on workers' rights, the steel industry, the industrial revolution, and Victorian England in general. You can tell that the author really cared about writing an authentic story, and I applaud her for it. This was definitely a labor of love.

But other than that, I wasn't really too impressed with the story itself. While I liked Lenore's character arc, it read pretty tropey. The other important characters also read very tropey. You've got the husband doing secretive things behind his wife's back, the fake friend who might or might not be having an affair with the husband, and Carmilla, the femme fatale that read like the typical stock character.

Honestly, it was all very predictable. You've seen this play out a hundred times before in books, tv shows, movies, etc.

I kept hoping that it'd lean more on the toxic relationship between Carmilla and Lenore, but while their slowburn relationship did happen on page, it read more like a metaphor for Lenore's self-discovery. Their relationship didn't feel concrete. Carmilla was just there, egging Lenore on while being a freeloader at Nethershaw.

I wanted a lot more longing, a lot more angst, and definitely a lot more lesbian vampire action.

Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for this arc.

The first half of the book was a slowburn and full of avoidance and it kept the plot from going somewhere. But in the later part it really picked up the pace and my interest peaked again. I love the concept and the execution of this book in the way it was written and so. Recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was already hooked when I saw this was a rework of the book Carmilla and it's safe to say that I was not disappointed.

I couldn't put this book down. It was so insanely well written. It was spooky and dark at times and then more hopeful during others. Personally, I loved that it focused more on Lenore's character and her story than the romance between her and Carmilla. Lenore is written as a complex character. She feels real, which makes it even better to read about her anger, her fears and the way she handles them.

Even if you haven't read Carmilla, this book is a must! I would highly recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review

"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."

Lady Lenore is hungry, but at the beginning of this novel she doesn't know it yet. Left orphaned at a young age and in the care of her aunt, her life hasn't been kind to her. When she became of age, she was determined to find a husband and earn her place in a society that had long been denied to her.

Eventually Lenore gets the life she always wanted, yet she is still hungry. Until one day, a wounded young woman, Camilla, enters her life and her new manor. From that day fourth, Lenore is plagued by nightmares and strange visions. her strange young house guest starts to slowly dismantle the life that Lenore thought she wanted,

Hungerstone is a raw and beautiful novel, with feminine rage at the very centre. Although this is a sapphic vampire romance, this is not at the forefront of this haunting historic masterpiece. Featuring gorgeous prose and perfect pacing, Hungerstone is the perfect follow up to Kat Dunn's previous novel Bitterthorn.

Oh my god, I think I found one of my favourite books of next year. I can't wait for this to come out! This was such a gripping read from start to finish, I loved exploring the lesbian vampire trope. It's perfect for fans of Piglet, Big Swiss, Woman Eating, and The Vegetarian.

"And all I am left with is my raw, untrammeled hunger. I am a woman woken from thirty years of slumber, and I would eat the world should it satisfy this empty, keening void where my heart should be. I would cry with grief over my life so unfulfilled and drink down the salty tears, eat my worthless tongue and important fingers, skin this carcass and pick the bones clean."

"Hungerstone" is a retelling of one of the earliest works of vampire fiction, "Carmilla." The Gothic novella is female-centric, sapphic and the original prototype for so many female and lesbian vampire characters to come.

Author Kat Dunn's version takes that to a whole other level. Set in Yorkshire in the 1800s, the atmosphere is its own character here. It's dark, gloomy and isolated, creating an ever-present sense of tension.

Like so many recent female-led historical retellings (and lots of my faves), "Hungerstone" is a book of rage. It's not only the rage over how our main character, Lenore, is treated by those around her but also her own.

From the author, Kat Dunn, herself: "This one is for the feral girlies, for everyone who has ever wanted to take the world in their mouth and bite."

Hungerstone was, BY FAR, my most highlighted book of the year. The use of hunger as a metaphor and the visceral nature of the horrific elements, especially blood. I have MANY feelings and thoughts about the characters and their specific plotlines (i.e., Cora, the scenes Lenore stumbles upon, etc.). However, I hesitate to say anything more.

Plus, anything with the words “sapphic” and “vampires” in the description is an auto-buy for me.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Zando for the advance copy in exchange for my review.

Oh my god this was SO GOOD. Lenore is a titled woman who married for money, constructing the perfect life for herself. When a mysterious woman has an accident near her country estate and convalescences with them, her world is upended in a way that scares her but also intrigues her. I love the intrigue with Henry and Carmilla was perfectly mysterious and enigmatic. I love the country setting it felt just remote enough to be scary-to me this was a perfect horror.

I requested this book because the premise was very promising: I loved Carmilla when I first read it, and I wanted something with those vibes, and even better if it was sapphic!
 
I enjoyed the book for the most part, but I can't help but think that it could have done much better with certain things. For instance, the main plot was delayed quite a lot. The first half of the book is Lenore purposefully avoiding the real problems and losing herself in flashbacks to convince herself that her situation now is better than it used to be. That in itself is fine, but eventually it stretches too much, to the point that the plot revolving around her relationship with Henry doesn't get much attention until the second half of the book.
 
On the other hand, I loved the horror in it. It wasn't very heavy, but enough to disrupt Lenore's daily life and frey her nerves. I also enjoyed the parallelisms between her eating disorder and her longing and how Carmilla's character keeps reminding her that this hunger she feels is not real hunger but something more demanding. It's an interesting idea that she's feeding on food to try and satiate a hunger that requires an entirely different thing (power, freedom, etc).
 
I wished, however, that Lenore and Carmilla's relationship was explored more in depth. Aside from one very sapphic scene, their relationship lives mostly in Lenore's mind, whereas in reality they spend too little time together in real life. Their relationship is more like a spell than a real thing.
 
The second half of the book was my favourite by far, because that is when the pacing of the plot really picked up a bit. The conflict between Henry and Lenore was satisfying; Lenore and Cora's sidestory was also very interesting to read, and Lenore's descent into madness, I believe, was quite well-written.
 
However, I feel like the ending was packed in too nicely. Everything fell into place too easily, and that final scene was too perfect. I wished to have seen more consequences to certain actions, maybe a bit of struggle as well.
 
It was a good read, despite this. It could achieve greatness with some small changes, though.