So many things aligned perfectly for me to read and fall in love with this book; namely, my cycle starting and finishing in the same time it took me to finish this. A book about carnal hunger and all of the ways the patriarchy demands women and femmes shut those hungers down, Hungerstone, demands that you allow yourself to want. Lenore has buried her wants so deep inside herself that at first she believes she is empty of wants. She's been relegated to the crumbling countryside manor her husband purchased, trapped in a loveless, sexless, secret-filled marriage, and expected to fix the house in time for a hunting party.

An expected house guest comes in the form Carmilla, a woman rescued from a carriage crash on the outskirts of town, who doesn't seem to have any knowledge of her life prior to the crash. She's haunting and strange and Lenore quite frankly doesn't know what to do with her. Carmilla becomes the person who most pushes Lenore to want; she wrecks much havoc on the household and brings about much carnal signs during her time there.

Hungerstone is a wonderfully written retelling of Carmilla. Kat Dunn destroyed me in so many ways throughout the book. I'm sure I will return to this at many points in my life to remind myself that it's okay to want, that the carnal urge inside needs to be fed before it gets to late.