<i>“A salacious tale of betrayal, murder and supernatural intervention."</i> although this was in reference to a play in the book but it perfectly encapsulates what <b>Hungerstone</b> is.

Lady Lenore Crowther is confined in a loveless marriage burdened by remaining childless and her own husband's ambitions. There is a unending void in Lenore and life has been unkind to her but she must endure it all to maintain the façade of a prim and proper lady, however it isn't until the couple make their way to the countryside that things begin to change.

Lenore is haunted by peculiar dreams, some of which involve a woman but what happens when the very woman from her dreams is found injured in a carriage accident and is brought to Nethershaw manor.

Carmilla Kernstein is recovering at the Crowthers' eerie manor and her presence is both unnerving as it is soothing for Lenore as Carmilla pushes Lenore to face truths she had been in denial about for so long.

The threads of Lenore's sanity begin to unravel and she finds that the void within her is never satiated, no matter how much she feeds it.

<b>If I am mad, it is only because they have made me so.</b>

Exquisite prose.
Immersive storytelling.
Dangerously addictive.
The epitome of female rage.

I did not want to put this book down.

I was wholly entranced and kept on edge as the tension kept building up and up until the climax which was nothing short of a cathartic release.

The story takes place in the late 19th century so there is a gorgeous gothic Victorian backdrop that fed my imagination. It also draws inspiration from a well-known gothic Vampire story called "Carmilla".

I had to deduct a star as I was left wanting a bit more of Carmilla and answers for some of the questions that were left unanswered. Keep in mind that while this features a sapphic romance, it is not at the forefront. It's quite a character-driven story and the romance is the rewarding part.

If you're a fan of A Dowry of Blood, this is a must read!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for gifting me with an eARC in exchange for a review which is for one of my most anticipated 2025 titles.

<i>This book contains triggering content which includes death, attempted murder, murder, blood, a bit of gore, infidelity, verbal and physical abuse and manipulation, etc.</i>

For Lenore, marrying Henry was an arrangement meant to benefit both of them. Now, to cement her husband's arrival into high society, Lenore is tasked with preparing the Nethershaw estate to host a hunt, planning to work hard to compensate the fact that they don't have an heir yet. On their way there, they come across a crashed carriage and rescue its beautiful and mysterious passenger, a woman named Carmilla.

Carmilla's presence disturbs everyone except for Lenore who feels drawn to her in ways she can't understand. Her being there awakens in Lenore a hunger that soon possesses her every thought. At the same time, some dark secrets and doubts about her husband arise and Lenore wonders who she should really fear.

I sort of hesitate to view this book as a Carmilla retelling because Carmilla's part in it doesn't take that much space. Instead, the story focuses on Lenore, a woman who suffered a great deal in her youth and now hungers for freedom, for life. Carmilla merely serves as the catalyst for her to remember that she is allowed to want those things.

I liked the structure of this book. The separation into two parts allows a clear distinction between the moods in each of them. They also work together as a whole to make us question who the true monster we should fear is.

The first part of the book is very slow and the story only started picking up at about 60% in, which feels like a very long time. Still, I think that longer first part worked well to set up Lenore's personality, history and her relationship to her husband. The writing is also beautiful so even though it is long, that part never felt boring.

The second part offers us a gruesome but also beautiful tale of rage, which I was fully entranced by. Its fast pacing helped carry a sense of urgency that made the book impossible to put down.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I wouldn't say it's a favorite, as the story didn't feel particularly new in narrative or execution, but it was well written.

I would recommend it to those looking for those who enjoy the "good for her" type of stories set in a dark ambiance, with additional commentary on social classes and the horrors of unsafe work conditions in industries during the 19th century.

Thank you to NegGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

"What is a monster but a creature of agency?"

WOW. Hungerstone was an absolutely incredible, very rich book that I am going to be thinking about for months if not years to come. Hungerstone is a Carmilla retelling set against the gothic background of the crumbling estate of Netherfield, where Lenore is now a mistress, desperately trying to keep up with her husband's grueling demands amid the tension in their relationship due to the tug of power between them, secrets kept, and Lenore's lack of a child to give her husband.

The writing in this book is beautiful and atmospheric, transporting me directly to Lenore's world and into her thoughts. Lenore is a woman who is trapped in a loveless marriage, holding herself under tight control in front of society and her husband to keep them both in good standing and in wealth. She is mostly able to keep herself together, until a wild woman named Carmilla comes into her life. Carmilla sees Lenore in a way that nobody else has and opens up her appetite in a way that it cannot be locked back up.

I absolutely devoured this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have never read Carmilla so I cannot speak for how it holds up as a retelling, but as a story on its own I was enraptured. Lenore's journey from being tightly controlled to opening herself up to her hunger and want was thrilling for me. I also think that anyone who liked Kevin Can F Himself on Netflix will thoroughly enjoy this story.

This was so incredibly good! Thank you for giving me this out of the world experience. This is a dark and seductive vampire love story that I couldn't get enough of! I was scared of the Carmilla concept, but it's such a modern take on it without forgetting or taking away key concepts of Carmilla. Everything was just incredible, absolutely recommend it. Beautiful beautiful beautiful.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC for an honest review.
I don't think I've read a book in a long while that explains the rage of women so, so well. Also for someone who is an absolute people pleaser this book hurt me in a good way. Hungerstone's story takes you through women empowerment as Lenore starts from being walked over by everyone, mostly her husband, to holding her head up and taking what she wants with the help of Carmilla. This was definitely a book that I didn't think I was going to need this year, but I am in dire need to have a copy of Hungerstone on my shelf.

Wow!! Having loved Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn and being obsessed with vampires, this was one of my most anticipated reads as soon as I heard about it. It did not disappoint at all!!

This is such a brilliant retelling of Carmilla, it’s so new while also keeping true to the original story. This has very quickly shot up to be one of my favorite books.

Set in 1800s Yorkshire during the industrial revolution, the story centers on Lenore, an unhappily married woman who has perfected a facade of having everything together. When Carmilla Kernstein enters her life after a carriage accident, Lenore’s carefully managed world unravels, uncovering dangerous secrets, deeply suppressed rage, and an insatiable desire for freedom.

Kat Dunn’s writing is so immersive, bringing the isolated, mist-filled moors and crumbling manor to life. Lenore is not a traditionally ‘good’ character, she is very complex and I love that for her.

As she navigates through betrayal, manipulation and past traumas it is impossible not to root for her on her journey for self-liberation, breaking free into a life she WANTS, not one she felt like she needed. It is incredibly empowering and I LOVED the ending !!

Thank you so much to Zando and NetGalley for the ARC

“I am being murdered, and I am too frightened to do anything about it.” (p. 186)

The set up of part 1 and its execution in part 2 was absolutely phenomenal. I couldn’t stop reading even if I wanted to, and I definitely didn’t want to. I was hungry for Lenore to win.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando for the arc. I have experienced death and rebirth.

Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

‘Oh, little Lenore. It is terrible to be alive. But it is worse to be dead to ourselves.’

With a slow start and prose as purple as the moorland heather of its setting, Hungerstone took a little while to hook me – but, man, once it did, it reeled me in and did not let me go.

Somehow both delicate and brutal, Kat Dunn manages to beautifully convey both the smaller and larger horrors of womanhood. The expectations placed upon women, and women of station specifically in this case, the unacknowledgement of so-called “women’s work”, the shame of being considered lacking, and the pain and quiet horror of being trapped in a body and a life that consistently seems to be working against you, despite your efforts of control. And, in the end, the sheer freedom that comes with letting that control go.

More than anything, this novel is a story about hunger. Hunger for food, maybe, hunger for status and security, certainly, hunger for love and intimacy, absolutely, but most of all, a hunger for life, and all of its appetites to be sated, and what you’re willing to do for it.

While this novel is a retelling of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, it’s not really about her at all. If anything, her wild and hungry and uncontrollable nature purely serves as a device to let Lenore free herself from the confines of the life that’s slowly killing her. And while Lenore’s relationship with Carmilla is absolutely vital to her character arc, I think it’s important for potential readers to know going in that, yes, this is about explicitly sapphic vampires, but it is not a romance – Lenore’s affair with Carmilla is a catalyst, but not the focus of the story. Nor is it really a vampire story, at least not a modern vampire story as we’ve become used to them. No, the vampiric aspects are really quite understated, explored in a way that paints vampires and their victims as creatures of insatiable hunger and desire and pure want, in the way that clearly invokes and pays homage to the 19th century vampire novels on which Hungerstone is based.

This one really snuck up on me, I have to admit. But if you want a story about learning to let go and finally chase your desires, or a story about a slow descent into what turns out to be vindicated paranoia, or a story about conspiracies and bad people getting what’s coming to them, or if you simply support both women’s rights and women’s wrongs, then I think you’ll love this book as much as I do.

I have actively been in my Carmilla retelling era as of late and this was a brilliant edition to it. I will say it started off a tad slow, but once the ball started rolling... WOW it just never stopped and I loved it. I feel like this retelling perfectly meshes the original book with a more mature setting. Let's just say the female rage never looked better.

Thank you to the publishers for the arc.

I unfortunately really wished I had liked this more. It's definitely not one of the worst things I've ever read, but I still thought that there were so many elements that just didn't work.

I found it very difficult to buy the characters and their motivations because, in my eyes, they simply didn't feel developed enough.
Overall, the writing was quite messy to me. I could tell that copious amounts of research was done in hopes of creating an accurate image of the time period which was supposed to strengthen the narrative, but, sadly, I think it did quite the opposite. There were lots of descriptions of places, dresses, foods and I thought they interrupted the prose's flow making it jagged and difficult to immerse into. I was almost always aware of the fact that I was reading something someone had written if that makes sense.

I do understand the intention behind this, but I really believe lots of descriptions and details could have been sacrificed in favor of a deeper focus into the heart of the book which I thought was clear... maybe almost too much so?
I felt that there was too much tell and not enough show, and the first person narration just really didn't help this in my opinion. It reached the point where it was just not an interesting reading experience because of how spoon fed it came off.

However, like I said, it's by far not the worst. The atmosphere could be alluringly dark and deep, and, as force fed as it felt, I really loved the core message of wanting and hunger! I thought it was a great idea and reading the afterword explaining the inspiration behind the book I really thought the thought process was brilliantly threaded.

I was honestly hovering on an average 3 star rating for 90% of the book, but I think endings are extremely important and I unfortunately just did not like this one. It felt abrupt and rushed.
Overall, I believe that there were some really interesting and cool ideas, but I found that the execution wasn't all that successful.

Again, I'm very thankful to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this arc and I wish the author a prosperous career!

Carmilla as a sapphic magic pixie dream girl fantasy?

Atmospheric, horrifying, and filled with absolutely disgusting English meals (seriously, were those to make us feel better about consuming blood?). I was feral for this. I've always loved Carmilla the Vampire as a symbol of female sexuality and taboo queer relationships, rage/passion, and overwhelming desire in a way that was monstrous in Victorian society. This book embodied every aspect of those themes. Much like the original Le Fanu story, the protagonist meets Carmilla after a carriage accident and nurses her back to health at her home, and that's when the Gothic goodness starts: a sapphic vampire, a creepy mansion, and a murderous plot.

As much as I enjoyed Carmilla's character, the highlight of this book for me was the machinations between the MC Lenore and her husband. Lenore is married, so the romance between her and Carmilla would be infidelity and I'm never a fan of that, but her husband is truly awful. HE'S the character with a monstrous appetite. But the final climactic scene! AHH!!

Hungerstone

5/5 rating

Disclaimer: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

I desperately craved a good gothic vampire novel this October, and Hungerstone delivered precisely what I was looking for.

Dunn’s writing is addictive, haunting, and atmospheric. ‘Carmilla’ is one of my favorite novels; this retelling absolutely does the original justice. Kat brings Le Fanu’s characters to life and gives them so much more personality. Her beautiful descriptions brought me right back into the story I loved so much.

It surprised me that many readers found this book slow or tedious. I found the story well-paced, and I caught myself itching to pick it back up at times when I was unable to read. 

Overall, this novel was great, and I plan on picking up more of Dunn’s works in the future.

Holy shirtballs Batman… this book was absolutely stunning! Rich, decadent with undertones of something on the edge of decay, like a half rotted cherry covered in dark chocolate. The way that everything slowly fell apart for Lenore only for the pieces to be used to make something so much more than she imagined was dark and terrifying in the best of ways. Kat Dunn is now one of my auto buy authors and I cannot wait to get my hands on everything else she writes.

Hungerstone is a haunting sapphic tale of female autonomy and the dangerous consequences of reclaiming buried desires. Dunn weaves a richly atmospheric and feminist-driven gothic novel that reimagines classic horror.

The story follows Lenore, trapped in a cold and passionless marriage to steel magnate Henry. When they move to the decaying Nethershaw estate to prepare for an elite social gathering, their strained relationship fractures further.

Lenore's world shifts with the arrival of Carmilla, a mysterious and captivating woman whose presence awakens long-suppressed yearning in Lenore—both for freedom and for love. As her desires grow, Lenore begins to question the confining role she has endured for so long. Dunn’s visceral prose pulls readers into the crumbling estate and Lenore’s unraveling mind, as she confronts desire, repression, and the dark secrets lurking within her home.

Didn't realize this was a Carmella retelling before I started, but it worked out that I read that last month!

I really wanted to like this but I just couldn't get into it. My main gripe is that the first 50-75% dragged for me. I get needing to set the scene and Lenore's frustrations, but it was slow. Love feminine rage and the atmosphere but I was also looking for more exploration of the queer relationship with Carmilla and actual vampirism.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Holy fucking shit. This blew me away. I didn’t expect to devour this as fast as I did- I could NOT put this down at all until I was finished. Female rage is my forte.

4.5 stars

Thank you netgalley for this e-arc

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

Really intriguing story based on Carmilla.

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, Henry is planning on preparing a shooting party in a manor.

Carmilla comes into the story after she got into a carriage accident, while Lenore and Henry where on their way to the manor. Carmilla stays in their home after to recover from the accident

Strange things are also starting to happen in the local villages

I really enjoyed the characters Lenore and Carmilla, they were both very interesting.


I wish i could already talk to someone about this book, but i keep forgetting it is not out yet!

While it explores the mondain life (of vampires yes) and can be boring at times, it is a great retelling of Carmilla. I’m always down for a lesbian relationship full of hunger and desire. The writing felt dry to me, kind of lacks personality but still enjoyable.

thank you net galley for the copy.

Hungerstone is a wonderful take on the story of Carmilla which actually explores the what-if of giving in to desire.

Lenore lives a suffocating life with Henry, her industrial businessman husband, and her society acquaintances. The new season opens up an opportunity for her to renovate Nethershaw manor in the countryside, away from the ploys of London.

I adored the atmosphere and setting of this new house Lenore is trying to bring up to standards. Nothing is at it seems and as our main character’s life crumbles around her, the estate seems to take on a life of its own.

Most of the book entertains the mundane, the everyday life of a woman making herself as small as possible, tidying herself up within the box that’s been assigned to her. As Lenore is pushed more and more into her hunger, the past she’s kept locked up is also starting to resurface. This made for an oppressive atmosphere that simultaneously lulled me in my discomfort and had me waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Retellings and reworkings can be tricky but Kat Dunn definitely achieved what she set out to do with this story.

First of all: Amazing cover!! The moment I saw it I knew I want to read this book. I am not a big fan of retellings of any sort, but still decided to give this book a chance..

We follow our main character Lenore through her life, after tragic incident she is orphaned at the age of twelve, so she has to stay with her emotionally unavailable aunt. She escapes this life by marring a man but instead of living a perfect life she imagined, she is trapped in a new cage: unhappy marriage. Her life turns upside down after meeting a mysterious woman named Carmilla, who is staying at their manor after a carriage accident. Strange incidents begin to happen after the arrival of Carmilla, a strange hunger awakens in those around her…

The book has a very slow pacing at the beginning and in my opinion has a bit boring start, but it definitely gets better later in the book. I enjoyed the dark theme of this book with its grotesque and gothic elements. I loved how the sapphic themes of original Carmilla were more overt in Hungerstone.
Perfect for a creepy October read!