Hungerstone is an atmospheric, gothic and addictive story inspired by Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu) and it was fantastic. I couldn't put this down, and even at the end I was left wanting more. This is an excellent story of female rage, subverting societal and gender expectations and about revenge, set against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution.

"To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend".

We follow Lenore Crowther stuck in a loveless, childless marriage she longs to be free from once she discovers her own desires and opens her eyes to her husband's ambitions and violence.The story begins when Lenore and Henry head to Nethershaw to make preparations for a shooting party with some of the most important people in society, Lenore is expected to make arrangements to refurbish the grand, yet crumbling, manor house.

On the way to the eerie moors and approaching the manor, the main characters come across a shocking scene involving a carriage accident, whereby they meet Carmilla, a mysterious yet alluring woman who ends up recovering from the ordeal at Nethershaw. Carmilla's company at the manor is both unsettling and comfortable to Lenore, where she slowly opens her eyes to what she really wants, and what she hungers for outside of what is expected of her. Once she gains more agency, we watch Lenore fall into insanity where she finds that nothing can satiate her.

"But Carmilla was right. I was dead, I have been dead for so many years".

Carmilla forces Lenore to accept some harsh truths about her life, the identity she has lost, or pushed down.

"Whatever scaffolding I have constructed to hold my life up cannot disguise that I lie in ruins".

I adored the gothic setting, the anticipation, the tension. Everything about this was excellent in my opinion. My only negative comment would be that I wanted to know more about Carmilla; she was so mysterious and dipped in and out of the story rather than being the focus.

I highly recommend this incredibly atmospheric, sapphic and intense novel. However, if you are looking for a heavy emphasis on vampires, you probably won't be satisfied with this - it is more about female rage, power and desire, It was perfect!

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

This book was so beautifully written and that cover!!!

I feel like I always say this after I finish a book like this but; 2025 is the year for feminine rage reads!
Give me ALL the dark gothic sapphic books!!

Beautifully written! I have not read Carmilla so I cannot bring a comparison. This novel was hauntingly sad and hopeful. Lenore is a tragic example of every historical woman bound by tradition but struck with a longing for something more. Henry is an outward prize who hides his evil behind closed doors. Cora has the same fated future but with child-like acceptance. And Carmilla! She is the fierce and powerful wisewoman that each of us wishes to tease out of ourselves. This story will stay with me.

not pun intended, but i devoured this.

a carmilla reimagining, that dives deeper into laura/lenore's mind and gives it an excellent and interesting twist. bc laura is not a lonely teenager, here lenore is a grown woman who shut down herself as a self defence mechanism but shes so so so tired. while her experience is not, her feelings are very much relatable in more than one occasion and i just feel like the author did a really great job in portraying them in general. the prose of the novel was excellent and the gothic atmosphere is so well executed.

i loved the last third of this book so much, i just /wanted/ to keep reading.

thank you so much to NetGalley and Zando for the ARC!

Such a fun read! I loved how immersive it was and the characters made this! This is a retelling of Carmilla and I loved how the book balanced between retelling and making the story its own. "Torn between regaining her husband’s affection and the desire Carmilla’s presence awakens in her, Lenore begins to unravel her past. Her search leads her to uncover a darkness in her household that’s set on destroying her." Desire, accepting that desire, and acting on it are the thesis here and this book delivers in a way I wasn't expecting. I loved the ending and the build up to it! At times I did feel it was a bit repetative but it did build anticipation. Overall, I really enjoyed this and can't wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the arc!

Full review will be on halfextinguishedthoughts.com

"I really thought you weren't like other women. I was wrong. You're worse."

"I am hungry and here is the man who has starved me for years."

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the e-ARC.

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this story. It seems like feminine horror is really having a moment right now and this book fits solidly with other greats. Lenore is a married, noble woman in the late 1800's. She does as her husband demands and makes him look good in the process. Except, after awhile she is rightfully sick of his shit.

I loved her slow descent into her madness. I enjoyed the tension created by her fighting her nature and her pull to Carmilla. When she finally let go, it was as if the story was taking a deep breath itself.

The heat and chemistry between Lenore and Carmilla was intoxicating. Lenore's methodical approach to her husbands demise was masterful. All I have to say is put in the same position, I wouldn't have acted any different.

My only issue with this story was the pacing. I wanted more nuance into her descent whereas her background and history were where the story focused. It got great around the 70% mark but I would've loved if that had occured sooner.

Thank you NetGalley, Kat Dunn and Zando for this ARC,



Hungerstone had an interesting premise and a beautiful cover, but the execution fell flat for me. The book was uneventful and predictable, the characters were…there, I guess, I neither liked or disliked any of them.

Also, it bears notice that although Hungerstone is a Carmilla retelling of sorts, Carmilla is hardly there. She comes, wreaks havoc, and goes away again; her character reminds me of a diaphanous curtain blowing in the wind, or a sapphic manic pixie dream girl. She serves as an instigator, and nothing more; and, oh, don’t get me started on Lenore. Lenore, our protagonist, spends her entire life (prior the book) thinking “oh, I’m so weak and meek”, then comes Carmilla saying “ Nah, girl, you are angry and powerful. Fight back”, and Lenore is like “Yeah, smash the patriarchy that kept me in chains!”, there's no natural progression.

Another thing is that this book falls victim to one of my least favorite tropes, like: She’s crazy, but not really (but actually she is). Lenore is so certain that she has everything figured out, just so that, at the last minute, the rug is pulled from under her yet again but, I couldn’t care less, because this yo-yo of “is she, isn’t she?” just made me not care about her. Plus, it did not help her case that she adopted a emo/edgelord attitude about things after meeting Carmilla that was very cringy, in my opinion. In addition, the relationship between Lenore and Carmilla is superficial, there’s no real connection there (again, imo); a bond was formed, yes, but why? Carmilla only pushed Lenore to do things and talked in riddles. Moreover, if I didn’t see Carmilla interacting with other characters, I would say that she’s actually a figment of Laura’s imagination.

To wrap it up, the character of Cora seems to exist just to make Lenore doubt herself, no more, no less. I agree that Cora’s behaviour was indeed really sketchy; she was naive and a tad self-serving, there was no need to keep things from Lenore, but still, she could have been a real friend to our protagonist. Cora’s death wasn’t really the #girlboss move that Lenore thought it would be, or a relief from the torment of not knowing, it was just sad, because Cora wasn’t really the problem, Henry was.

I went in with the best intentions but left feeling underwhelmed.🥺
- I usually love gothic horror, female rage, and vampire stories, but I felt disconnected from the plot, characters, and overall trajectory of this. I haven’t read Carmilla, so I can’t say how well it mirrors the original, but on its own, the writing felt too simplistic, with long stretches where nothing significant happened. For me, that only works if the narrative goes into poetic introspection, vivid atmosphere &/ moving characterization. I didn’t feel it did that much & the pacing dragged.
- Everything felt lackluster, with sprinkles of personality, making it hard to stay engaged.
- I needed MORE DEPTH & lyricism…less repetition of the same surface level points to fully buy into this.

HI THIS BOOK IS MY ENTIRE PERSONALITY NOW.

I'm obsessed.

While the inspiration of Carmilla is obvious, there's so much more at work here. A supernatural thriller with feminist fury beating on every page, making you question what it is you hunger for, and if you feel satiated.

Carmilla the character is quite frustrating, and that helps you dive deeper into sympathy with Lenore. Trapped by society, her marriage, her own trauma and isolation, and this one taste of hope and promise keeps dancing out of her reach. This is a story of a woman breaking out of her constraints and decimating everything that held her down. And even when some of it is terrible, you can't even blame her.

This feels like reading a classic gothic work in terms of location, cadence of the language, the mystery that we could articulate now but couldn't then, and yet I want to scream from the tors that more women need to read this.

Glorious. Darkly delightful.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando for this ARC Copy!

I LOVED this book so much. If you look at the cover and it makes you think, that looks like a book for me then what are you waiting for. Historical gothic horror is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres and this book solidifies my love. Sapphic Carmilla retelling steeped in feminine rage and revenge and so much tension set in a crumbling gothic manor. My only complaint about this book is that it is over. So far this is my favorite book I have read this year, I can not recommend it enough.

An enjoyable reimagining of Carmilla. Dark, gory, sensual...all in all an enjoyable read. I do think the story gets bogged down in the middle, and the overall pacing is a little slow for my taste, but once you get past that, it picks up again and doesn't stop until the end. It doesn't go quite as hard into feminine rage as I hoped it would, but still a very powerful story about female desire. Recommend.

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

This question is one that haunts the narrative. Lenore is a proper wife, stuck in a proper and unhappy marriage. She hungers for much, stifled in a time and marriage where her sole duty seems to be to provide children and legitimacy to her non-aristocratic husband (and she fails at the former). Her desire and need is palpable. The rage bubbling inside of her is felt in nearly every page. You rage FOR her. On the outside, it can be hard to see why Lenore is so enthralled with Carmilla - she's frankly a terrible houseguest. But when you put it into the context of Lenore's life, it makes perfect sense - Carmilla is what Lenore hungers. She hungers sex, to speak her mind, to be rid of her husband, to be rid of the constraints of society.

The prose of the novel was excellent, and this was a story that I lost track of time reading because I was so immersed.

I received this book as an e-arc, courtesy of NetGalley & Zando -- thank you so much for the opportunity to read this gothic historical fiction retelling of Carmilla. It's absolutely gorgeous!

I first wanted to read this when I saw it described as a Carmilla retelling. I read Carmilla in university for my BA, and I was so excited to see how it would be interpreted. Kat did an amazing job of telling a new story, and conveying allll the female rage, which of course, I'm always here for. The book reminded me of "mad woman" and "The Albatross" by Taylor Swift, and it was also giving some Lady Macbeth vibes. Obsessed with all of these things!

I love Kat Dunn's prose. She uses such gorgeous language to tell Lenore's story. The gothic atmosphere is developed so well, and there's so much anticipation, tension and uncertainty. Kat uses so many different elements to make this story so interesting and enthralling: the backdrop of the industrial revolution, the high-stakes maintenance of both Lenore's house and her husband, the odd dreams that Lenore has, the role of Cora... it all works so well!

As the story progressed, I thought a couple of times about A Dowry of Blood, which I recently read and loved. I think that if you loved Dowry, you'll probably love Hungerstone!

"To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend."

"It is only the past. No more than many have endured."
"And yet so much more than you deserved."
3,75☆|5

Well, this was certainly a ride! We are here going for a gothic setting, lesbian vampire, revenge, and female rage in what I believe is a retelling of Carmilla (I haven't read that one yet, but it's on my TBR :) ) and what an intriguing premise.

It took me quite a long time to enter this one, as the pacing was slower than I was expecting. But when I had entered it? Oh, what a wonder. The author's style is very beautiful, and she masters the gothic setting nearly perfectly, making the atmosphere really peculiar and fascinating to enter and read.

This retelling is centred around Leonore, and even though it took me some time, she grew on me at some point. We follow her and the realization that she has lost her identity, her agency; we follow her anger, her rage, her hunger. We follow her as she tries to understand Carmilla, who played a minimal role in this book, all things considered.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, but maybe not as much as I expected. It was a bit too slow and long for my taste, but it's still definitely worth reading if gothic literature is something you enjoy! Thank you to Netgalley and Zando for the e-ARC; it'll be released on February 18th.

On nearly every page of this book were *the most* breathtaking lines I’ve ever read. We follow the story of Lenore, a lady of the upper class in Victorian England who’s task is to make hospitable a ruined manor in the moors. I felt each of Lenore’s tragedies as if they were my own, and Dunn’s worldbuilding positions you so well in the scene you can feel the heather brush against your feet and taste the creeping rot of the manor all around you. A divine feast & perfect addition to the gothic genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Zando for an ARC!

I thought this was a wonderful Gothic novel slashed with the paranormal. To view female anger through a lens of hunger and in all ways this comes isn’t a new concept, but I think the author made it their own. She made it feral and hopeless and a little sexy, which I think is everything women need to explode into who they were meant to be.

"Pain takes me into its arms and makes a home in my body."

This was gorgeous, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. Out of all the Carmilla Retellings I have read this is by far the best, not only does it do the original justice but it also feels so fresh and modern.

I loved how the author created such an atmospheric reading experience so necessary for any book in the gothic genre. It had tension and the slow build of impending doom shown in the characters but also the setting.

All the characters had me gripped, the ones you were supposed to hate you did and those you were supposed to empathise with you also did.

The story was so enchanting and I couldn't help myself from turning every page, the twists I didn't see coming and the pacing was perfect.

I think what I also loved was how although it is set in the 1800s and the problems women had back then slightly differ to todays issues it was still so deeply relevant today and had so much female rage brimming throughout.

I will say, if you are picking this up because of vampires. Don't because it is such a minor part of the story and honestly this book is so much more than that.

I do think my only critique was how Lenore and Carmilla perhaps lacked chemistry ever so slightly for me. I wanted more from them. Out of all the characters Carmilla seemed the most one dimensional.

If you love books about female rage, you need to add this one to your tbr

sapphic vampires x female rage, yeah this book was good. the first 30% dragged a bit and i struggled to get into it, and i wish we had more Carmilla scenes! overall, glad i read it!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

“What is a monster but a creature of agency?”
Oh she ate with this one.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for access to the e-arc of this novel!

This was everything I have been looking for in the “unhinged/feral/angry woman” sub genre of books that have seemed to become increasingly popular recently. Of the many books that have promised me a subversion of the “crazy woman” stereotype, Hungerstone did it best.

I have to confess that I have not read Carmilla and probably will not be able too now because my image of the property is formed entirely around Hungerstone now.

This was a beautiful rewriting full of heart, emotion, and most of all, hunger.
Asking the age old question of “is it wrong to be hungry? Or is it in our nature.”

“How much better to make them all regret knowing me.” A study in petty yet absolutely justified bitchery, truly.