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.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Narrator: 5
Pace: 4
Plot development: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 4

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

I loved this. What a wonderful take on Carmilla! The setting, the prose, and the range of feelings this story evoked… AMAZING. There are so many themes to explore in this book and they all give you so much to reflect on at the end. I only wish it was longer!

What I Loved:

A gorgeously written, immersive gothic atmosphere
A slow-burn romance that simmers with longing and danger
Sharp social commentary on gender roles and female autonomy

Hungerstone is gothic horror at its finest—lush, eerie, and utterly intoxicating. The way Lenore’s hunger—for freedom, for passion, for something beyond the suffocating role she’s expected to play—throbs at the heart of every scene.

The horror here isn’t about jump scares or gore. It’s woven into the fabric of the novel, found in the expectations that trap women in lives they never truly chose, in the way desire is twisted into something to be feared, and in the slow realization that the real danger isn’t always what lurks in the dark—it’s what’s been in plain sight all along. Lenore’s journey is both devastating and empowering, making every moment of tension, every stolen glance, and every act of defiance hit that much harder.

This book made me want to sit in silence just to let it sink in—and simultaneously shove it into everyone’s hands so they could experience it too. Hungerstone is a masterful, seductive take on Carmilla, rich with gothic allure and unapologetic in its exploration of feminine power, longing, and rage. If you’ve ever felt like you were starving for something you couldn’t name, this book will feel like it was written just for you.

I really enjoyed! I loved seeing a woman realize that she can want, she can have desires and she doesn’t have to live in a man’s shadow. I wish we could’ve had more with Carmilla and we could’ve had more of a relationship her between her and Lenore!

The range of emotion I felt while reading this story left me wishing for more once it was over. If you like a gothic setting, vampires, and female rage in your books, this one is a must read! Kat Dunn's afterword mentions taking inspiration from Carmilla, which I have never read but now I will have to just to have a bit more of my lady vampire queen. I may never stop being hungry again after this. I thought that the narrator did an excellent job, however I did notice some feedback noise in the audio throughout. Thank you for letting me review this audiobook.

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

I'm taking a page out of a favorite podcast's book (ha), and im going to try a one sentence synopsis. It is harder than you would think, but here goes:

A victorian lady decides to live deliciously after meeting an injured woman, who forces her to recognize her life (and marriage) as a prison, and violence is the key to her freedom.

This is not even the first Carmilla retelling i have read this year, but it is my current favorite...maybe even more than the original story!?!? This book definitely does the og vampire story justice. Perdita Weeks brings Dunn's character to life in all of her cold veneer and desperate longing, and i loved how she could just quietly devestate me. I thought the choices Dunn made to change an innocent virginal Laura to an experienced, world weary Lenore gave the story a sense of more realism and importance. I love a first-person narration for internal struggle, and this story delivered.

Highly recommend to horror fans, people who love female rage/vengeance, people who have an interest in the horror that is victorian food for rich people (so many jellies), sapphic historical fans, etc.

Thanks netgalley/dreamscape select/zando for this audio ARC!

Marketed as a sapphic romance with vibes similar to A Dowry of Blood, Hungerstone tells the story of Lenore, a deeply repressed woman who lives solely for her husband. After ten years of marriage without being able to give him a child, she devotes herself to Henry’s ambitions and to securing their place in society. These ambitions lead them to Nethershaw, an old country estate, but along the way, they assist a mysterious young woman who has been in a carriage accident. Carmilla’s arrival at their home pushes Lenore to question her own ambitions and challenge Henry’s authority.

Carmilla is one of my favorite novels, and this reimagining promised that underlying feminism, the sapphic love, and the theme of women’s liberation. Lenore starts off as a character who moves through life on autopilot, never questioning her own desires, and justifying Henry’s every cruel action. Her attraction to Carmilla wakes her from this stupor and sets her on a path toward self-fulfillment. The problem is that this transformation comes… a little too late. Most of the book feels like it is laying the groundwork for this liberation, which, when it finally happens, feels sudden and somewhat rushed. Carmilla serves as the catalyst for Lenore’s change, but ultimately, it is Lenore who takes control of her own life. All of this is wonderful and exactly the kind of story I’d love to read—if I hadn’t been led to expect something entirely different. The vampiric element is barely more than a suggestion, and while there are explicit scenes, the romance lacks the subtle tension that made Carmilla so special.

I genuinely believe that the trend of selling retellings is affecting my experience with certain books—books that, on their own, could stand perfectly well without these labels. I don’t understand why it was necessary to name the character Carmilla, a choice that inevitably evokes Sheridan Le Fanu’s work. It underestimates the reader by making every reference explicit when, in my opinion, it would be far more rewarding to let them make those connections on their own. This habit of categorizing and marketing books so rigidly only serves to limit them. But I suppose that’s a discussion for another day—let’s get back to this book.

Lenore, with whom we spend most of our time, is an intriguing character whose circumstances eventually push her to explode. I liked that Carmilla is merely a nudge in the right direction. It’s true that, without her, Lenore wouldn’t have changed and that Carmilla exerts a seductive pull toward another life, but in the end, it is Lenore who makes the choice. That said, I feel Carmilla is ultimately reduced to an underdeveloped idea—an archetypal femme fatale who could have been much more enigmatic and hypnotic. Henry, on the other hand, becomes almost cartoonishly villainous, making it far too easy to hate him and justify Lenore’s actions, as if the author was afraid her protagonist’s choices might be seen as morally ambiguous.

The transition from submissive wife to liberated woman is handled with great care, unfolding at a slow and deliberate pace. The issue is that when the moment of transformation finally arrives, it feels abrupt, and the ending left me somewhat cold. It’s as if the book ends just as things are about to get truly interesting.

Even so, I believe this is a deeply atmospheric read that offers an excellent character study. A highly recommendable book that could have been even more impactful if we, like Lenore freeing herself from patriarchal constraints, could break away from a publishing industry that insists on pigeonholing every book in order to sell it.

Thank you to Kat, Zando, and NetGalley for providing me with an ALC of this novel.

3.5/5 ⭐️
.75/5 🌶️

This was a retelling of the novel Carmilla, which was the inspiration for Dracula. It’s is set in the countryside near London during the Industrial Revolution. Lenore is a decade into a loveless and childless marriage to Henry.

Carmilla enters Lenore’s life following a carriage accident and Lenore takes her in to take care of her. Over time the women grow close and… well… Carmilla was always so sick during the day and lively at night… I wonder what she could be?

When they finally join together in union, Carmilla is giving Lenore the strength to *take care* of her awful husband. This awful husband who has *spoiler* been poisoning her so they he can marry someone younger who may give him babies.

Finally Lenore confronts Henry about poisoning her and the awful things he has done with his business to make himself richer. (god, rich white men are the worst.) And well, with newfound strength, she takes care of him!

Excellently creepy audiobook read by the wonderful Perdita Weeks

A compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the queer novella that predates and inspired Dracula, Hungerstone is a feral, intoxicating, and razor-sharp exploration of female rage, desire, and the horrors of womanhood. Set against the industrial revolution’s cold steel , the novel follows Lady Lenore Crowther, who has spent a decade in a suffocating marriage to steel magnate Henry. When a hunting party takes them to the remote British moorlands, a carriage accident introduces the couple to Carmilla —a woman who is frail by day yet boldly alive at night. Her presence awakens something deep within Lenore. And when young village girls begin to waste away, consumed by an insatiable hunger, Lenore is forced to question everything—her past, her desires, and the very foundations of the life she thought she had no choice but to endure.

I am not familiar with Carmilla, an infamous story of which this story was inspired from! But I love a vampire story and anything gothic.
The character Carmilla in the story is a mystery. As the day of the hunt approaches, Lenore is faced with a choice - what will she do.

This novel drips with gothic sensibility, from the eerie Nethershaw Manor to the fever-dream pacing that builds towards the story climax. If you crave a novel that reads like a lost gothic classic, that teeters between horror and desire, that crackles with the kind of unbridled feminine rage that leaves ruins in its wake, then Hungerstone will devour you whole.

#zando #dreamscape #hungerstone #katdunn #Perditaweeks

This book? Absolutely intoxicating. A sapphic, gothic dream wrapped in longing, secrets, and a dash of deliciously dark tension. From the very first page, I was completely swept into Lenore’s world—a lonely wife in a marriage so cold it might as well be six feet under. And then, enter Carmilla, this enigmatic force of nature who turns Lenore’s entire existence on its head.

The atmosphere? Stunning. Think moody countryside manor, whispers in the night, and a creeping, undeniable hunger—both literal and metaphorical. Lenore’s journey from dutiful wife to something much, much more had me absolutely feral. The tension between fear and desire is *chef’s kiss*, and the slow unraveling of the household’s secrets kept me glued to every page.

If you love gothic fiction with a bite (pun intended), women reclaiming their power, and prose so rich you could drown in it, this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion!

I found the story's similarities to the original Carmilla to be a little boring. I do like that the story has more depth, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.
The narration was good and a fitting voice for the character.

I had no idea that this was a spin off of the Classic Camilla... I am glad that the author explained that in the end. This was very Victorian/ gothic/ with subtle vampirism. I thought the story was interesting and the pacing was decent. Over all this is a solid read.

“I am hungry. But there is nothing here for me to eat.”

Hungerstone is a Carmilla retelling. We get fear, desire, dread, lust, appetite, isolation, hunger. I was excited for this, Carmilla inspired, vampires, sapphic, gothic setting in the moors. Lenore lacks desire, she’s solely focused on her husband, his career and his image. While in the moors, Lenore meets their mysterious houseguest Carmilla.

I really liked parts of this, but I also felt like I was reaching for more things to love about it at times. I think I just need something more. Something more with Lenore (we hear about how she feels a lot but I’d rather have seen it play out at times too?), def more with Carmilla (she’s on page for a bit but then gone for a lot of the story), and def lean more into the sapphic aspect of it all (hello, Carmilla is right there). I did really like how hunger and appetite plays such a role in this story, whether that was actually hunger for food, blood, sexual appetite, power. It changed at parts in the story and changes for the way the reader reads it too.

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

Slow burn story that was narrated by Perdita Weeks who made me want to keep listening. Kat Dunn keeps feeding you breadcrumbs and at 50% in, she hooked me. The story in Hungerstone is about (eventual) female empowerment, hunger, appetite, desire, and a sapphic romance. There are some mentions of vampirism with biting and blood. I was rooting for the main character, Lenore, and was satisfied with the ending. ALC was provided by Dreamscape Select via NetGalley. I received an advance listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a Carmilla retelling promising female rage and sapphic vampires that doesn’t do anything new.

With comparisons to Dowry of Blood, I was expecting complicated relationships and beautiful prose. Instead, the plot was predictable, the prose was good but nothing special, and the ending felt lacklustre.

With the blurb, I expected more about the Industrial Revolution, yet this was very background - merely adding to Lenore’s discovery of Henry’s despicable behaviour.

<b>If I am mad, it is only because they have made me
</b>
I was expecting a North and South, darkly feminist Carmilla retelling. Rather, it was a woman who was weak learning that she not worth anything in society despite the steps she has taken to give herself status.

There was not enough female rage, more telling than showing, however I did like how the author executed steamy scenes without it getting to the spice but fading out.

Ultimately, this was just fine.

Audiobook arc gifted by Dreamscape.

i feel pretty conflicted on this rating as i thought the book was well written but it was terribly boring for the vast majority. had this not been an audiobook I would have dnfd. there are some other really great low rating reviews that can go way more in depth than i could with my grievances of this book and would highly suggest you take a look at them.

1.5 rounded up for the narrator and for the writing

This is another book that drew me in with its premise but didn’t live up to the hype. It felt like more effort was put into creating a mood than crafting an engaging story. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me.

Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced listening copy of Hungerstone.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn is a reworking of ‘Carmilla’ – a book I have at this stage have never read. However, I have listened to other ‘Carmilla’ reworkings, and felt this one stood out for a number of reasons. The first being that from Lenore’s first-person narrative, we learn of her world and are led through it with immersive detail. Lenore is a complex and strong woman, and her introduction to Carmilla changes her perspective on life and love.
The story itself is full of self-discovery and feminine rage.
The reader, Perdita Weeks, has done a fantastic job with this book. Her voice was calming and engaging, and I enjoyed that all the characters were easily identified with different voices.
This book was everything I need in a dark and gothic vampiric story!

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn is an exhilarating, emotionally charged story that effortlessly blends sharp feminist themes, high-stakes narrative. The novel follows a fierce, complex protagonist who refuses to bow to the oppressive systems around her. The narrator was fantastic and engaging. Would highly recommend!

Thanks Netgally for the arc