Hungerstone was everything I wanted from a Carmilla retelling. The book builds slowly and sultry throughout to ultimate feminine power and rage that was satisfying and fulfilling.
The narrator does an amazing job at bringing Lenore to life and I could listen to her voice for many more hours. I was fully immersed and didn’t want to stop listening at any point.
I felt transported back in time and the setting is gothic and beautiful. The themes of pleasure, anger and responsibility enthralled me. With lyrical and dramatic writing I now need to annotate a book version. An absolutely stunning example of historical gothic literature that I will revisit.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

"Aren't you furious?" This is a perfect question to encapsulate the female rage in this book. I loved Carmilla so obviously I pounced on this retelling and was not disappointed. Perdita Weeks is a great narrator - she began with a languid pacing which then turned to fury and the narration definitely highlighted the book perfectly. I am really enjoying the genre of female rage and this is another great addition. I almost wished 'the undoing' lasted longer but that is probably just me wanting to see bad people squirm. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select and Zando, LLC for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderfully evocative slow burn, with a few grisly scenes. I found Lenore to be an incredibly compelling character and found reading from her point of fascinating. The audiobook narrator is absolutely wonderful.

I listened to the audio of this book and let me say the narrator was FANTASTIC!!! Her voice was sultry and was the missing spice in this haunting book. You get the sense of dread (not in a bad way) and meeting Lenore and the hunger she carries for life is well done. I understand the author was inspired by many novels including Carmilla which is the inspiration for Dracula. The mention of Hunger hence the title gives the listener or reader a feel of one being hungry (I had to remind myself it’s a book and not my stomach lol). I recommend listening to the audio if possible!!

I want to thank NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishing house, audio house, narrator, and the author for the opportunity to listen to a complimentary copy of this book in return for review, based upon my honest opinion.

This is a reimagining of the novel, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu which was one of my favourite books as a young teen, it was my introduction to vampire novels. I enjoyed the retelling of the story, this author did a fantastic job of keeping the feel of the original story, but giving it her own spin. Lenore is stuck in the life that she made for herself out of necessity, and now realizes that she’s unhappy with her choices, but as a woman in her time, has no power. Enter Carmilla, a woman unlike any she’s met before, a woman who shows her how to empower herself. Once Lenore realizes her value and her strength, there will be no stopping her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.

3.5*
this was fun! it was such an interesting take on the original story and the narrator also did a great job. I was totally immersed in the story and what can i say, i love sapphic victorian stories. I just wouldn’t rate it higher since it didn’t stick out to me and it was quite predictable. The characters also lacked a little bit of depth but i would still recommend it since it was such an enjoyable read :)

First off, the narrator did a fantastic job for this! Her character work was superb and her voice was incredibly engaging.

This was a slow burn laced with sexual tension. The two main characters were compelling and the blossoming romance between them was drawn out with longing.

Kat Dunn's writing style really drew me in. The setting was stunning and the descriptions delectable.

The plot did feel a little slow and I found myself wanting a tad more from it but overall I loved this and am glad I gave the audiobook a listen as audibly it was beautiful!

The novel starts with Lenore and her husband moving to Yorkshire in order to live in a grand house and start masquerading as the perfect married couple and as the novel progresses more and more secrets begin to worm their way out of the woodwork and it isn’t long before things start to get more than a little bloody. Throughout it all the character of Lenore never seems arrogant or insufferable (a common pitfall with female rage narratives) and throughout it all you still find yourself rooting for her. An excellent example of the genre.

OMG I love this so much! I am so glad I got to listen to this. The narration and the setting is absolute perfection. I loved every moment.

This was *stunning*. Ugh, I love reading experiences like this one was. Beautifully written, evocative characters, a vivid and eerie setting, and a just all around fabulous historical gothic novel. Inject it directly into my veins next time.

Absolutely entranced by this story of duty, desire, lust, and anger. Truly a strange, vivid, and topical tale with history and fantasy woven in

Carmilla as a sexy Mary Poppins, but for abused women.

A Sapphic Carmilla reworking that will have you wishing you living in a desolate gothic manner with a hot vampire.

This book was super atmospheric, I actually felt cold while reading it. Our main character, Lenore, is married to the most insufferable man, Henry, but puts up with his demeaning ways because she believes she has no other choice. However, when they stumble across an injured woman and take her to their manner, everything changes.

This book is essentially about a woman stepping into her power. I'd say comps would be Grey Dog by Elliot Gish, Diavola by Jennifer Thorne and Lady MacBeth by Ava Reid.

Perdita Weeks does an amazing job narrating and switching between Lenore and Carmilla. I definitely felt the stress and overwhelm in her narration, which was spot on.

Read this if you love
🦇 Sapphic horror
🦇 Gothic atmosphere
🦇 Secluded, crumbling manner
🦇 Vampires
🦇 Woman stepping into her power
🦇 Cannibalism

This book is best read in the kitchen while asking yourself, for what do you hunger?

Hungerstone follows our main character Lenore as she moves to the British countryside. She is working diligently at readying the house for a hunting party to be hosted by her husband, Henry. In what starts as a seemingly desperate bid to keep him happy, or at least neutral to her, in their unhappy marriage. Or, at least, that was the plan, until the two find Carmilla, a stranded woman in a carriage accident, on the way to their new house. Carmilla’s presence in Lenore’s life makes quick work of disrupting the life she’s grown accustomed to, but will it be for the better… Or will it leave her, and her marriage, ruined forever?
This was a highly anticipated book for me, and as a reader that’s tricky- often books don’t live up to the hype they garner before release, or they just don’t live up to my own expectations. Hungerstone, however, exceeded my expectations and blew me out of the water. I devoured this book. From the characters to the setting, this book captured my every attention. I wanted desperately to know the characters and their journeys. It was one of those books I wished I could simply absorb and know the entire story in one quick swallow.
The words felt powerful, quotes or feelings described in the book often left be dead in my tracks. It is very relatable, even with such the setting being such a distant time in the past. The sentiments remain the same, the story, the trauma, the path that life puts you on.
The sapphic aspect of this book did not miss either, oftentimes sapphic stories are rushed things that lack the soul of real sapphic relationships. This book did not, it captured the heart and soul of it. The mess of realistic, complicated, all-consuming love. The hunger of it. How it changes us.
As a plus, the narration on the audiobook was wonderful. Perdita Weeks does a great job at capturing the accent of the time for characters. She really gave life to them, it felt like I was at that house in the moorlands with them. While I wouldn’t say it’s a book that you gain a lot from listening to the audiobook over reading the book, I did find the audiobook to capture the essence of the book well and would recommend listening.

***Thanks to Dreamscape Select/Zando, LLC through NetGalley for providing me an ARC for my honest review***

*Gothic setting
*longing
*slowburn
*atmospheric
*female ire
*social commentary

I read Carmilla once but I don’t remember enough about it to speak of the reworking but I will say that I enjoyed this immensely. The writing was excellent, the plot compelling, the narration superb; this one resonated…. but, ultimately, it was lacking something essential (for me).

Despite my issue with this I definitely recommend this one.



Thank you to Zando, LLC and NetGalley for the ALC

“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,"

Velvety and Lush, Hungerstone is a love letter to Carmilla and Lucy, to women trapped and who're so hungry for so much more.

Lenore has been squashed and silenced, ignored her whole life and only valuable to others for what she can give them. But Lenore hungers for more, it'll take an enigmatic, beautiful woman for Lenore to realise that she can take her fill of life.

Deliciously gothic with some of the loveliest writing. I felt seen as a woman.

The narrator does a fantastic job of conveying the trapped and desperation of Lenore, setting a fantastic gothic atmosphere with her voice.

I knew I'd love this book as soon as I read the synopsis and I'm so glad it lived up to all my expectations!

4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this AudioArc.

I really enjoyed this retelling of Carmilla. It slowly unfurled itself and I was constantly curious how the author was going to continue the story. I think there were a few moments in the middle where it lagged a little bit but overall it was well done. I loved how the hunger was presented.

I really like enjoy novels that are what I would call “quiet creepy,” and this book meets that description beautifully.

This is as much historical fiction as it is a vampire novel, and the subtle menace that pervades the slowly unfolding plot is really artfully done. It’s a slow burn for sure, but in the best possible way.

I don’t really care about romance so that part of the novel didn’t matter much to me one way or the other, and I appreciated that this component of the story was mostly about escape and obsession than moony, schlocky stuff.

The story is in some ways a tribute to LeFanu’s Carmilla and in other ways a rebuttal to it, and I was impressed by how successful it was on both fronts.

Obviously I won’t say much about the ending, but suffice it to say that it’s quite satisfying while still staying faithful to the book’s dark perspective.

Hungerstone is a sapphic gothic horror that is a feminist reworking of Carmilla, the book that inspired Dracula. Lenore, our main character, is in a loveless marriage with steel magnate, Henry. After 10 years and no children to show for it, their relationship gets further and further apart. Henry plans to host a hunt at a remote manor in need of fixing outside of London, and on their way, a carriage accident occurs, which is how Carmilla enters this couples lives and shakes things up in an unforeseen way.

I read this one kind of on a whim because I loved the cover so much, but it’s definitely not my usual genre choice. Regardless, I thought it was a beautifully written gothic horror story with elements of female rage, vampirism, and a bit of queer romance. Lenore is hungry. She’s hungry for freedom and taking her power back, and Carmilla is the missing piece to help her achieve it.

I have the physical copy of this book as well from @aardvarkbookclub, but I absolutely loved the audio of this story. The narrator, Perdita Weeks, was perfect and had the most beautiful, creamy, and timeless voice.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the ALC of Hungerstone!

This is a great character study of feminine rage written in a fantastic prose, in a setting of gothic horror.
I feel like at its core, it is a very modern and beautifully written feminist tale.
The main character is tragic and her path of self discovery and acceptance of her desires felt so well deserved.

I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator is fantastic. She adds a lot of depth to the text and I would definitely recommend this version.

Thank you Dreamscape Select for this ARC!

Lesbian vampire? In a gothic setting ??? Yes please !! The way i devoured this book in one sitting! I would highly recommend this book to my friends