3.5

Oh man. This book was kind of crazy.

The family relationships were exactly like you’d expect from a book like this. Messy and complicated.

The mystery was definitely there, but the plot as a whole was also not quite what I wanted, just like Wilder Girls. Rory Powers is great at the whole horror/gore/twists stuff, but the execution in both books just isn’t there for me. I spent most of this book wondering when stuff was actually going to happen. When it did, it was great, but a bit “too little too late” for me.

I wish some of the side characters had played a bigger role, too. Tess seemed important, and she was, but it just wasn’t enough. She and Eli seemed more like plot devices. Something about Jo was also a little off.

Overall, it was exciting and enjoyable and mind bending, but after this and Wilder Girls, maybe Rory Powers just isn’t the writer for me.

BURN OUR BODIES DOWN begins as an instantly moving, raw exploration of emotional abuse and neglect and very quickly and artfully evolves into an intricate, intriguing psychological thriller with notes of sci-fi and horror to round it out. Rory Power’s prose is sharp and riveting, lyrical almost, creating a narrative that is almost impossible to put down. I read about eighty percent of this book straight through one night before bed, and it was absolutely worth it.

This book puts a fresh spin on several well-known horror and sci-fi elements, keeping the plot enticing and full of deliciously shocking twists. Without giving anything away, I’ll say that I thoroughly enjoyed trying to guess what was going on - and while some of my suspicions ended up correct, the way it all played out still surprised me.

The characters and relationships in BURN OUR BODIES DOWN are stunning as well. Rory Power does a phenomenal job portraying the deep emotional and mental effects of gaslighting and emotional abuse, creating both an achingly sympathetic and fascinatingly unreliable narrator in Margot. Rory Power picks apart assumptions of character morality, showing that no person can be taken at face value and that emotional damage and corruption carry over generations. She explores themes of individuality, independence, familial obligation, and forgiveness through a refreshingly real perspective, making this story as thought-provoking as it is thrilling to read.

I am very excited for this book to be out in the world - I hope that many others will enjoy it as much as I did.

I loved this just as much if not more than Power's previous novel, Wilder Girls, and she's bringing us another divine standalone horror read.

I couldn't put this down, and I couldn't read it with the birds chirping and the sun shining either [for those of you wondering, I went and hid in my dark bedroom lol].

The plot sets you to be uneasy from the beginning as if you know something is not right but you can't figure it out and this unease and dread only grows and grows until the climax of the novel which leaves you feeling the full weight of the consequences that led to it.

Amazingly done and beautifully written another 5 star Rory Power read for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest opinion.

YASSSSSS! Rory can keep these weird creepy novels coming because I LOVE them! I enjoyed this one way more than Wilder Girls. I found myself turning page after page and loved it!

I haven't read Rory Power's Wilder Girls but when I saw this book on Netgalley, I decided to give it a try especially as it was promoted as "horror". I really like the author's writing style and I'd highly recommend this for anyone who loves YA and especially YA horror. It was really more mystery with a pinch of gore here and there. I would have loved this as a teenager, but as an older woman with adult children, I found it "okay". I feel you have to go into this deciding to suspend belief a bit so while I wanted it to feel like a real mother/daughter/grandmother relationship, it doesn't quite get there. There are also times within the story where you're like "yeah, this would never happen in real life"...such as being a teenager "helping" the police figure out what happened to another character and being allowed to go into the morgue.

Thank you to Netgalley and Randon House Children's for allowing me to read and review this title for free in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a strange book, but in a good way. I really love the way that Rory Power writes - you think you’ve got it all figured out and then NOPE. This isn’t to say that I didn’t guess a few things right, but man, there were certainly things I didn’t see coming.

TW: dead bodies, death, emotional abuse, body gore

Thanks to the publisher for sending an e-Arc my way! All opinions are my own.

As a fan of Wilder Girls, I was very excited for Rory Power's next book. It did not disappoint! It was chock-full of that eerie and unsettling feeling that pervaded Wilder Girls with a little extra mystery vibe thrown in. The final reveal is delightfully creepy and weird in a great way. From the blurb I did not at all get that the book had a supernatural element, so that affected my experience. The story felt so grounded from the well-detailed characters to evocative imagery, that when the fantasy/sci-fi element came in I was a bit thrown. But then got on board and loved the concept!

I felt the middle dragged a bit, since there was really only one overarching mystery thread to unspool and so I felt all the reveals kind of piled on top of each other at the end. For a thriller, the writing was also a bit more lyrical than I was used to so it felt a little repetitive at times story-wise. And since the story veers so wildly out of reality I felt a little cheated that the mystery wasn't one I could've solved on my own. I also would've loved Tess and Eli to have been a touch more developed.

Overall, a weird read I recommend!

Young Adult fiction at it's best! Beyond that...Is it Sci-fi? Mystery? Wow, I spent the entire book trying to figure out what exactly I was reading. Really well done, kept me guessing to the end. A very good kind of different!

Margot has always wanted to know about her family. Her mom won't talk about anyone else, and their life is barely held together. When Margot discovers a photograph with her grandmother's phone number, she leaves home to learn more about her mother's past. What she discovers along the way is nothing like she thought.

Burn our Bodies Down has an interesting mystery premise, but it took a really long time to get going. The relationship between Margot and her mother is strange, and wasn't resolved in a complete enough fashion for me. The ending was more than just unexpected--it seemed to come out of nowhere without enough backstory to hold it all together. This one was just too far out there to really work for me.

Rory Powers does it again. Last year I read The Wilder Girls, and while I was hoping it would be a series (because I didn't think I got enough closure) I was super excited to read Burn Our Bodies Down!
Power's writing always has a mystery that surrounds the story and tends to have a weird, mutation type answer. The same can be said for this book. We meet Margot, our protagonist during the summer months. She's lonely, lost, and struggling to feel loved by her mother. She also has no idea where her family comes from or even if she has any other family. When she finds a picture with the phone number of her 'Gram', she sets out to find the place where she belongs.
Upon her arrival a fire breaks out in the field's of her family and a girl, who looks remarkably like Margot, is killed in it. When the police start investigating, they come to Margot to help uncover what her family has been hiding. What Margot finds will throw her life for a loop and even the life of her new found friend. I really don't want to say to much more than that because it's really better to read this book with an open mind but that ending, mind blown.
Powers has really stitched together a greatly bizarre family dynamic tale. She perfectly captures the 'complicated' relationship between Margot, her mother, grandmother, and the rest of the 'family'. Ugh it extremely hard to describe this book without spoilers, fyi!
If you like Stephen King's creepy vibes mixed with some 'Children of the Corn' and a bit of chaos then this book is perfect for you!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Burn Our Bodies Down. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to Delacorte Press for my Advanced Copy.

I'm calling it now this book is going to be just as divisive as Wilder Girls. Rory Power has such eerier and atmospheric writing that leaves you compelled. Also, those corn fields.

This book was fantastic. Another amazing novel by Rory power. She built this book like a fire. Starting small and bringing it to a blaze. I would highly recommended if you enjoyed wilder girls to read this! A great teen read that can be enjoyed by many! Kudos again to the author for another enjoyable ride! Can not wait to purchase a hard copy!

Burn Our Bodies Down follows a teen named Margot. For her entire life it’s only been her and her mother…no one else. Anytime Margot has questions about her relatives, she never gets any answers. All she wants is to know her family and their history. So when she finds a photograph from her mother’s past she decides to take advantage of it. She ends up going to the town where her mom was raised, but she has no idea what secrets she is about to uncover.

This may be weird to say, but I love Rory Power’s brain! She comes up with the most bizarre ideas and somehow just makes then work. I honestly have no idea how she does it, but I can say with certainty that I will read anything and everything she writes.

Burn Our Bodies Down was so dark and very twisted. It definitely has an eerie vibe to it. The story went in a direction I was not expecting whatsoever. I tried to guess what was going to happen but oh my, I failed miserably. The author throws in these little clues along the way and you think you may know what they mean, but nope you would be wrong!

With fascinating twists and turns, I devoured this book. It had me on the edge of my seat. I felt like I was right there with Margot as she discovered the shocking secrets of her family. I honestly couldn’t get enough of this story.

I loved our main character Margot. She hasn’t had the easiest life. Her and her mother Jo do not have the healthiest relationship. Jo is actually pretty toxic and she literally had no business raising a kid. Through the book, it’s easy to tell just how much Margot’s upbringing negatively impacted her. I was rooting for her so much though. I wanted her to find the answers that she needed. Margot goes through A LOT in this story and I love how determined and strong she is.

Overall, I loved everything about Burn Our Bodies Down. It was strange but in the best way possible. I highly encourage you to add this to your TBR shelves. You won’t regret it!

Well this one definitely threw me for a loop. I‘ll admit I was pretty cocky and thought I knew exactly where this book was headed, but even when I was on the right track, I got the degree very, very wrong. At one point when I was maybe halfway through reading I commented on Chelsea’s status update that I was “waiting for everything to go off the rails”, and through time and space Rory Power HEARD me and decided to grant me that request. Be careful what you wish for, y’all!!

The story starts with 17 year-old Margot and her mom, Josephine, barely getting by in their small apartment and meager income. Beyond poverty, there’s a massive amount of simmering tension between the two of them, at near-constant risk of erupting. Eventually this leads to Margot seeking out the family that her mother has always kept hidden from her.

I’m always down for a complex family dynamic. I appreciated the relationship between Margot, her mother and grandmother, Vera, and loved dissecting what each microaggression (or full-on aggression) lobbed at one another meant. There were plenty of secrets that we get to uncover along the way, especially since none of the women are particularly forthright.

“Does understanding her mean I have to forgive her?”

I also adored Power’s writing. She captures these really specific, human moments between her characters just beautifully. My Kindle copy is filled with highlighted passages, and I’m guessing anyone who’s had even a somewhat-toxic relationship with a family member will be struck by her insights. I ended up skipping Wilder Girls last year and clearly that was my mistake. I know people were guuuushing about the cover, but I hope that the book itself ends up being just as engrossing.

That said, I still feel like the story was missing something. Parts just felt underdeveloped. Tess was promising, but both her and Eli seemed like they were added as a means to and end. I never quite understood Josephine, and I think some of her ‘quirks’ needed to be explained a little more. It felt a bit rushed, especially by the end, and I wish Power had taken more time to elaborate on this really creative premise. And it felt pretty dark for a YA novel; I get that the heroine is a teenager, but I don’t know if I would market this to teenagers. In all, there was a lot of good stuff to work with, but it still felt unfinished. I am absolutely interested in reading more from her, though, and I can’t wait to see what she puts out next..

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Reactions:

My Attention: the mysteriousness of the story pulled me along but I got frustrated at some points

World Building: story takes place on a farm

Writing Style: definitely felt all of Margot’s despair, distrust, and her neglect

Bringing the Heat: it brings literal HEAT, and I mean from a fire 😟

Crazy in Love: nope none

Creativity: okay the truth that is revealed in this story is creative and…strange

Mood: unsettled

Triggers: toxic family relationship, death

My Takeaway: I think I’m still processing this – but my takeaway? Family secrets suck. 🤷🏻‍♀️ And the truth needs to come out before healing can take place.

What I Liked:

*This story was different and I didn’t expect the direction it was taking at all. There is an interesting twist in the story that surprised me. The author did such a great job really keeping me guessing until the end.

*It definitely had a creepy factor to the story and it kept me on my toes trying to guess what was going on. Grandma was creepy but the horror emerges at the ending of the story. It was more like a mystery/thriller than horror.

*Margot is a complicated character. She’s a teenager that has been absolutely neglected by her mother. So when Margot leaves to find out more about her “family”, she realizes there are so many secrets to uncover about her mom’s past. Margot makes many hard decisions in the end, but she had to – the secrets were getting out of hand.

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:
*The first half of the book holds all the mystery and it was slow going. I kept wondering what could be happening on this farm? Why is the community so secretive about the Nielsen family? I had many questions. It was frustrating because no one would talk and I felt like the story wasn’t getting anywhere.

*Margot’s grandmother…she made me go hmmm all throughout the book!

Final Thoughts:
This story explores the dysfunctional family and secrets that can tear a family apart. I enjoyed it because it was different, strange and the truth that was revealed was horrifying. But I also thought it was just okay and maybe I spent more time trying to make sense of some things that happened in the story? I have mixed feelings about this one but I think many people who enjoy a young adult thriller will enjoy it.

Modern gothic horror for teens that explores the brutal dance of dysfunction that can develop between mother and daughter. The heroine, Margot, lives on a knife's edge with her emotionally distant and manipulative mother, Margot is always watching out for the next explosive fight while longing for some other family member to whom she can truly belong. When she stumbles upon an old photograph and calls the number on the back, she finds her Gram, waiting to hear from her. But when Margot runs away to her mom's home town, it quickly becomes evident that maybe her mom kept her secrets to herself for a reason. As a reader, I felt like the plot stalled out a bit once she settled into the town, but the constant tension kept me going. My favorite element was the realistic writing of Margot's thoughts and reactions as an emotionally abused person, which also kept the sense of horror quite tangible. Wilder Girls was a book that got under my skin and with this second novel, I can easily say Rory Power is one of my favorite authors.

Wow. Wowowow. I thought I was ready for this book when I opened it, and it turned out I was not. BURN OUR BODIES DOWN is a beautiful and horrific look at Margot Nielsen’s family secrets, and of digging so deep into them that she finds something she couldn’t have predicted.

For about 75% of this book, Rory Power feeds you little morsels of information, and at times, it feels agonizingly slow, like you have to claw for everything this book will give you. It leaves you exhausted and exhilarated at once, and you can tell that it’s all going to culminate into something huge.

And boy does it.

I devoured this book in a few evenings of reading, and on the last day, I couldn’t put it down even for a second. Once you get past 75%, this book wrenches you forward as Margot spirals down through the holes in her family’s story. You start piecing it together as she does, and once you figure it out, you can’t help but sit there with your jaw dropped (or yelling, because I yelled a lot). So many moments after this point in the book had me shouting in the middle of my living room.

I didn’t want for much from this book that it didn’t already give me. Complex characters, an exploration of what it means to be yourself when you’re dealing with intergenerational trauma, learning to become a person outside of what your parent(s) made you...the story centers heavily on Margot to a point where it feels like most of the world is inside her. And I think that’s significant, because Margot is discovering herself as she discovers her family’s secrets and the world beyond the one her mom built for her. There’s a lot to unpack in BOBD, but you can’t help but try once you’ve read it. It’s an incredible book and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers that center around knowing about and guessing at family secrets but getting WAY more than you bargained for.

Also, corn. I definitely did not bargain for this much corn, but there’s a reason it’s called corn book.

I’m not sure how much I can even say about this book without giving too much away. It’s almost better to go in blind, which is what I did, and it was a great choice for me.

The Characters:
1) Margot. She’s 17 years old and knows almost nothing about her family and its history. She’s curious and is willing to break her mother’s rule to find out where she came from and to find the place where she belongs.
2) Jo, Margot’s mother. Let’s see, she’s cold, distant, secretive, manipulative, territorial about her past, and absolutely infuriating.
3) Vera, Margot’s grandmother. At first, she seems more willing to show Margot some affection, but she’s also a bit stingy with the details, adding to Margot’s disillusionment.

The Plot:
Again, I can’t say much. I guess it’s about Margot’s journey for truth, but it’s also about SO MUCH MORE!! Read it. Just read it, and you’ll see.

My Thoughts:
Questions, questions, questions. I had so many questions throughout the majority of this book, and Rory Power makes you wait to find your answers. Normally, I would be a little frustrated by this, but not this time. Power’s writing style makes up for everything. She kept teasing me with her siren call of words to continue with the story and to keep the pages turning. Her style is crisp and sophisticated without being flowery. It’s pointed and personal. She creates this atmosphere that is so mysterious and ominous, while also being subtle and serene at the same time. That probably doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t even care.

Overall, I kinda loved this book! We learn things and figure out the mysteries right along with Margot. Because of this, we can identify with her. We feel her frustrations, her curiosities, her disappointments, and fears on a visceral level.

I wish there were something I could compare this book to so you’d have a better idea of what you’re getting into, but there isn’t. This one is unique. I can only ask you, maybe even beg you, to try it for yourself. It’s worth it!!

Enjoy.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power is a YA Feminist Horror novel and follow up to last year's Wilder Girls. I found it very atmospheric, creepy and a more subtle horror novel than Wilder Girls, (which I enjoyed but was left confused about parts) Burn Our Bodies Down was significantly better in that respect. I didn't feel like I didn't really "get it" like I did with Wilder Girls.
Burn Our Bodies Down has creepy Children of the Corn vibes, messy complicated mother/daughter relationships, passed down trauma, horrific family secrets, murder and fires.
It's a solid horror novel without being overly graphic or bloody. Definitely recommend if you Enjoyed Wilder Girls or are looking for something creepy in your YA.

This book crackles with pain and tension, layers of grief and family stitched together. I’ll have a hard time getting this story out of my head. With a fierce pace and searing writing, Power excels at this stripping her characters down and examining their humanity in was that you can’t look away from as a reader. I know readers with difficult relationships with their parents will find themselves - and perhaps a step towards something like healing - in this book.