Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Rating 4.5/5

Spoilers: light

Lesbian vampires? SAY NO MORE! This story was not what I was expecting at all but came out of it very satisfied. I never read the original story of Carmilla (which this is a type of retelling of), but I think I might look it up after this! All I know is the original story inspired Dracula by Bram Stoker, which I actually did not enjoy (I know…very un-goth of me), so I was surprised that this was a page turner for me.

We follow Lenore who is married to a man who doesn’t give her the time of day but expects so much out of her. In her blindness, she stays devoted to him, not knowing any better and wanting to keep their life as extravagant as possible. Coming from a harsh childhood where she lost her parents in a violent carriage accident and had to live with her never satisfied aunt, she is willing to be put through anything just to move up in society. That is until Lenore and her husband come across Carmilla, who was in a carriage accident and is invited into their home to recover. What starts out as a simple situation starts to get…creepy. Something isn’t right with Carmilla, and she seems to have latched herself to Lenore and is feeding her ways to change her life and awakens a hunger in her that she didn’t know was there.

Lenore was definitely the picture of a woman in this age with her mannerisms and how she was taught to think growing up. Man, am I happy someone finally made her SEE! What started as creepy turns into something completely horrific but beautiful at the same time with Carmilla and I should say, a bit freeing to read. I’ve already said satisfying but MY OH MY. The spice levels could have been higher and the pace in some areas could have been quicker which is the only reason I didn’t give it a full five stars, but I am happy I chose this one from my book subscription! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Thank you for following! Happy reading!