A terrifying story of family and belonging and dark secrets and hope and control, with toxic family habits passed down through generations. I really didn't expect how utterly bizarre the storyline would get, but I almost didn't mind, given that Rory Power continued to wield incredible prose and the atmosphere continued to be vibrant and flavorful and disturbing.

I'll reiterate, though: it gets really, really weird.

I received a digital advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After I read Wilder Girls, I knew I wanted to continue reading Power’s other books. There is something about her writing that grasps my attention. This book could have easily turn to a story that would’ve bored me out of my mind. However, Power’s writing had me enthralled and I just couldn’t stop reading.
This book focuses on a girl whose mother has kept her from getting close to her family. The girl soon finds a way to get to her grandmother and realizes that there were good reasons as to why her mother wanted her away. The city and the land the grandmother lives in is filled with dark secrets and the girl finds herself stuck. Later, she realizes she must come into terms with who she really is and finish off what had started years before she was born.
I feel like I have seen similar plots in other stories, but I didn’t mind it much because this story ended up with unexpected twists. It was unexpected and gruesome! Giving it 4 stars!

Okay it only took me like 3 months but I finished it! Overall, I did like this book. I think I liked the second half more and that might've been because that's when the action really picks up more and it becomes more of a horror than mystery.

I do think this book might be hard for people who have family related trauma, or manipulative families, to read. I think that's what ultimately lowered my own enjoyment of it and if I had known the sheer level of this in the book I may not have picked it up for myself.

However, I do think readers who are fans of psychological horror/mystery will enjoy this one. It's slower and has an atmosphere that is blisteringly hot, and if you really like being immersed in the confusion and questions of the main character then this book is for you.

And lastly, one other thing I'll note is that I liked that Margot is a lesbian, but that there's no romance in the book. Lately I've been reading a lot of LGBT+ books that focus on the romantic relationships. Which is great but I think it's also nice to sometimes have a book where a queer character can exist outside of their sexuality and just solve mysteries — like so many straight characters usually get to do.

Musings:

This is a book that barrels you to the end wondering what’s going to happen? What’s going on? What happened back then? And all these questions are a good thing. Cause, you may wait for the answers and when they get there it’s an experience.

That’s what ‘Burn Our Bodies Down’ is, an experience.

What I Loved:

The Pain. It’s been a while since a book reminded me of my relationship with my grandmother. The gas lighting and the want to be accepted but knowing you never will. Much of this was painful for me. Not everyone ends up with good family and knowing you deserve to thrive in spite of it is an important thing.

The Curiosity. This book has you asking questions from start to finish and in a good way. More answers you get the more questions and you feel exactly as Margot must’ve felt.

The ending. Now this is a book with an ending. That whole time my eyes went bigger and bigger and my mouth dropped lower and lower. It’s a damn hell of a fantastic ending.

It’s creepy. This book unsettles in subtle ways. It makes you feel safe and then it takes it away a little and then a little more. It’s so well written.

The atmosphere. It’s dry and dusty and full of corn that’s not growing well. The way the world is written is so well done. You can feel how small and yet how vast everything is.

All in all:

This is a fantastic horror novel. It’s completely different from ‘Wilder Girls’ and it’s so good in its own unique way. It’s a must read for horror lovers.

Ever since Margot Nielson can remember, it has always been her and her mother. No father in the picture or any other family that she knows about. Margot has a difficult relationship with her mother and she feels that she is intentionally keeping information from her. She comes across a photograph in a bible that leads her to her grandmother',who lives in a small town called Phalene. Margot flees to Phalene to meet her grandmother and find out more about the family she craves. Once there she meets a few people her age, and they take her to her Grandmother's place. Once there, they encounter a huge fire on her grandmothers farm. Margot sees a person in the fire and tries to rescue her. The person didn't make it, but they were able to carry her out of the field. Once they take a look, they discover the person looks just like Margot.

The story gets even creepier from there. This is a very interesting story and I highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Burn Our Bodies Down is equal parts weird, disturbing, suspenseful and heartbreaking. Some of my favorite characteristics to find in a book.

The story follows teen, Margot, who has lived with just her mother her entire life. She knows of no other family and any time she presses her mother for info about their past, or where she came from, her mother loses it.

Her mom is extremely unstable and their relationship is quite contentious. Margot has never felt wanted, or loved, and lives her life walking on eggshells. Just as Margot gets to the end of her rope, she discovers a clue. The only hint she has ever had in regards to her mother's early life.

It's a photograph, tucked into a family bible, signed by who she believes is her grandmother. In addition to a phone number, the photo also indicates a town name: Phalene. She's shocked. Phalene isn't even that far away. She decides to go there, find her grandmother and finally get some answers.

Arriving in town, Margot meets a couple of local teens she tries to needle information out of. While she is with them, they receive news of a fire on her grandmother's farm. The kids rush to check out the scene and end up finding the fields in flames and a body. Upon further inspection, they discover the body is a girl, about their age and she looks exactly like Margot.

Thus begins the head-scratching drama that surrounds Margot's family's farm. I can't even begin to tell you how confused and intrigued I was by what was going on in Phalene. She meets her Grandmother, Vera, and stays with her, but continues to be brushed off when she tries to get definitive answers about her mother's childhood, or where she came from.

Margot learns many things in her first few days in Phalene, including the existence of family members she never knew about, including her mother's twin sister, Katherine. During her investigation, she also ends up making a couple of friends along the way. There is a dark feeling of unease that spans this entire novel.

You know, deep in your heart, that something is very wrong in Phalene and Margot's family is at the heart of it, but what!?

I would classify this as an Ecological Horror Novel, a genre I have been enjoying quite a bit lately. I personally loved Power's writing style, although I did think some of Margot's musings eventually bordered on repetitive. With this being said, Power's ability to write body horror is top-notch; that cannot be denied. I would recommend this one to Horror readers, particularly if you read and enjoyed Silvia Moreno-Garcia's, Mexian Gothic. I would say the two stories channel a lot of similar vibes.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinion and will definitely be picking up Wilder Girls now!

Great story and loved the romance. Loved the cast of characters and how the story came to be. Great story and I would read this author again.

This was a strange one...I kept trying to figure out what was going on. I'm still not sure I entirely understand, but it definitely kept the pages turning. I will recommend this one to teens who like something a little different.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO BURN OUR BODIES DOWN?
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power was the first ever audiobook that I’ve been approved for via Netgalley. While I am excited about this newer feature, it turns out that I am going to hold off requesting more audiobooks. My experience listening to Burn Our Bodies Down via the Netgalley Shelf app just was not wonderful. I am left wondering, was it the story? Was it the app? Or most likely, was it me? So, essentially, I listened to Burn Our Bodies Down to test out a new feature of a website that is so dear to me that I check it every single day.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Margot’s life has been a somewhat lonely one. It has always been just her and her mother, living in run down apartments. No relatives. One day Margot comes across a photograph that points her to a place called Phalene where she believes she will find answers. While in Phalene, Margot does begin to get answers and unravels some super creepy family secrets. Also, there’s the body of a girl who is found nearby and Margot gets caught up in all that. Plus, we see the strained and complex relationship between Margot and her mom.

WHAT DID I THINK OF BURN OUR BODIES DOWN?
Honestly, maybe I should have physically read Burn Our Bodies Down. There was a lot that I don’t think I quite understood. This book was just plain weird and creepy. BUT, I want to acknowledge that I probably was not in the best frame of mind to read and absorb. After all, I’d have to interrupt my listening time to go be sick and well, I am not used to managing that. After reading this I did come to the conclusion that I want to like books by Rory Power and I want to like YA horror more, however, maybe I am just not at that season of life right now and that’s okay. I do think if you are someone who likes horror and is good at paying attention and reading deeply you’ll love Burn Our Bodies Down.


HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook of Burn Our Bodies Down is narrated by Lauren Ezzo. It is 10 hours and 9 minutes long and I’ll tell ya, I felt every single one of those minutes. What didn’t help was not being able to speed up the narration without the audiobook sounding off and weird. I wonder if I had listened via Libby or Hoopla, would my experience have been the same? All I know is that listening at 1x speed was rough.

This was not the audiobook for me and I know it’s due to several factors – my physical health while listening and frame of mind, not being able to speed up the narration, and the story just not being for me. I did think the narration was a bit much and maybe too emotional. So, I am still open to trying other books by Rory Power, just not via audio and not moving them to the front of my queue.

This one the writing was confusing for me? Also the beginning is very dramatic. This can put me off a lot of the time because usually I like to build up to drama and emotional narration. If the opening was tense, but not so emotionally charged and dramatic, I probably would have been pulled in. But I was confused quickly and just didn't vibe with the style of this. Wilder Girls was similarly written and the style for that story didn't work for me either. I don't think I'm going to read from Rory Power again, even though I thought the concept of this sounded amazing.

This had so much potential. I loved Wilder Girls so much but this is probably my biggest disappointment in 2020. It was just really weird and I don't like to read books that make me feel dumb, but I will continue to read anything Rory Power writes.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power is about a girl, Margot, who longs for a family and history. For as long as she can remember it has just been her and her mother, until one day she finds a picture that leads her to her grandmother. Margot takes the trip to her mother’s hometown and soon finds out her family has a secret.

I love a good mystery. This book has a good storyline and continues to touch the hidden secret. Overall it was good writing and I do recommend trying it out.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

#BurnOurBodiesDown #NetGalley

Fantastic style and mood, lovely writing. Unfortunately, the plotting does not stand up to the standards set by Wilder Girls.

Burn Our Bodies Down is a creepy and brilliant psychological thriller about an almost 18-year-old girl, Margot, who is trapped in a dysfunctional co-dependent relationship with her psychologically abusive mother. Her mom has refused to tell Margot anything about her family, so Margot sleuths out her grandmother and goes to find out what her mother has been hiding. Upon arriving at the town, she makes a couple of friends and witnesses a fire and a mysterious death on her grandmother's farm. She eventually unravels a twisted and shocking story of family lies, betrayal, secrets, Rory Powers' expert writing is lush and atmospheric, adding to the overall sense that the world of the story is dislocated and awry.

This book, before anything else, is a story about mothers and daughters. That it’s truly what endeared me to it. My rating is more on the side of a 3.5/3.75 but I just can’t give it a full 4 stars.

Rory Power delivers, as always, with beautiful and lyrical writing and I think in Burn Our Bodies Down it was much more polished and less rough around the edges than in Wilder Girls. Both books have their merits, but I think in each it is clear the conclusion of the plot wasn’t well thought out when the writing process began.

In this book especially (and I don’t consider this a spoiler really) since there isn’t much of an open ending it’s quite evident that the loose ends were just messily wrapped up in any manner that seemed to fit. About halfway through the book you can kind of get the sense that’s going to happen.

The plot is intriguing but it’s sort of like riding a roller coaster in reverse, all the fun is at the start, and towards the middle and end it’s like “what’s all this then?”. I did still enjoy it though, most especially for the relationship between Margot and her mother, like I mentioned.

The relationship between a girl and her mother is something so complex and intricate it is hard to capture on a page and Rory Power did it perfectly here and for that alone I have to give her kudos. There were times when I found myself so struck by something Margot thought during her inner monologue that I just had to take a second to bask in that feeling of being seen and I certainly hadn’t expected that from a YA horror novel.

For me this book just solidified in my head the fact that Rory Power does indeed have some incredible potential and though she hasn’t written That book for me yet, I will continue to pick up whatever she puts out because her writing is just so beautiful.

I was hesitant about this, as Wilder Girls by the same author was not my cup of tea. I’m not sure what prompted me to request Burn Our Bodies Down, but I suppose I wanted to give the author another chance since everyone was raving about their writing.

I’m really glad that I did! This was an absolutely intense read that I couldn’t put down. I enjoyed it so much more than the author’s debut novel, and I’m happy to say I’m looking forward to their next novel.

This read is like watching an episode of Nailed it. You think of a thousand ways you could've done it better but it's still very enjoyable.
I think that it could easily have been a 100 pages read if it weren't for how repetitive Margot's thoughts were about literally everything and everyone.
It brings a new bizarre-creepy concept, which was what i enjoyed the most, but it was the only plot we had and if it weren't for the terrible and very absurd lack of communication, the problem would've been solved in a more credible and quick way and for me, all of these makes the story pointless.
Besides that, i think it's a good quick refreshing story and it helped me a lot to get out of my reading slump.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not make it through this ridiculous book. The characters are outrageous, completely unrealistic, and the dialogue is incredibly stilted to the point of being absolutely unbearable.

Fast paced and intense YA thriller. 17 year old Margo just wants security and family. Her contentious relationship with her secretive and unstable mom leads her to dig up information about her family. A visit to her mom’s hometown leads to a fiery beginning, a deadly mystery, and an intense ending that will keep a reader engaged to the very last page.

Wow! This one was amazing! The mystery was twisty and crazy and I didn't guess what was going on at all. The characters were fabulous and I need to read the other book by this author ASAP! This is one of those books that will make you sleep with one eye open and all of the lights on.