BURN OUR BODIES DOWN has me in absolute awe! Rory writes the best spare sentences that pack a wallop. I adored Margot’s complex feelings toward her mother and the twisting dread only horror that would. Not. Stop! What an incredible sophomore book!

I. Adore. Rory. Power.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Wilder Girls last spring -- it was one of the first ARCs I ever reviewed and it has a special place in my heart, both for starting my ARC reviewing journey, but also introducing me to a person I was sure was going to be a new favorite author.

Burn Our Bodies Down didn't disappoint.

A much more personal story about a girl named Margot who tries to untangle the mysterious web of a family she's only just discovered, Burn Our Bodies Down was at once very familiar and incredibly creepy.

The small town, midwest setting was such a good touch for me right now, as a homesick Midwestern girl living a thousand miles away, and there were so many moments that Power just hit the nail on the head so perfectly and made me so nostalgic for summers at my grandparents' house and just frolicking among the corn.

I wouldn't say that Margot (or really anyone in this story, to be honest) is all that likable as a protagonist, but she's unflinchingly real. She's running from a strained relationship with her mother, and trying desperately to get out from under the unhealthy upbringing she's been dealt. Even as she's noticing all of these disconnects in her life and all of these creepy things happening, she's ignoring them with all her might, because all she wants is a family who will love her unconditionally, the way she's never been loved before. Her denial of the eerie happenings isn't stupid or ignorant, it's just heartbreaking.

I still love the way Power writes -- it feels so organic and lyrical. I can see why some people don't like it; it's pretty non-traditional. But I mentioned in my review of Wilder Girls that Power's writing feels like if I was capable of stretching the best of my own writing into an entire book, and it's a joy to read. This sophomore book is very different from the first -- more personal drama, less action, more creepiness and mystery, less straight-up horror. But honestly, somehow, I liked it better. I look forward with excitement for Power's future work. Thank you, Rory, for the corn book.

This book kept me riveted to it, with me inhaling it in one sitting. Everything Powers does in this book, from the haunting, lyrical writing to the gripping, horrifying elements to the commentary on generational trauma made this book sit at the top of the books I've read so far in 2020. Absolutely recommended.

About this review: this review will be published to my instragram (Instagram.com/lizsbooknook) and my Goodreads (http://goodreads.com/user/show/69763443-liz-s) on July 1st 2020.

Burn Our Bodies Down: Rory Power 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Story: I didn’t know anything about this book going in, and I think that definitely helped with my enjoyment. I definitely did not anticipate the direction this story was going to go AT ALL. That being said, this definitely wasn’t my favorite. I appreciated the tidbits of foreshadowing, but overall the payoff didn’t make a lot of sense to me. You definitely need to suspend your disbelief to enjoy this one. Not a bad story by any means, just not quite for me.
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Characters: Our main character Margot was a little weak. I don’t know anything about her interests, or much of her personality beyond the cabin fever she felt being alone with her mother. Her mother Josephine was far more interesting to me, but we didn’t see much of her at all. Side characters were also not very well developed, particularly Eli. I don’t quite understand his inclusion at all, he added almost nothing. Gram was by far the most interesting character, and I think she was executed really well. Her motivations were a little convoluted but overall her backstory was very unique.
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Writing: The copy I read was an ARC, so I did find a handful of typos and errors but I don’t blame the author for that at all, this is an advanced copy after all. In general I didn’t find a problem with the writing style, Power has a good voice that especially stands out in the more mundane scenes. Dialogue was a little clunky and on-the-nose at times.
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Overall: 3/5 🌕. This story had a lot of potential but I feel this book could have used more character development. The plot was extremely unique, towards the latter half it became unlike anything I’d ever read before. I definitely recommend this to anyone that likes family dramas with some mystery/sci-fi elements!

Ok I really, really tried to like this book. Halfway through I realized it just wasn't for me. I don't know if I'm being biased because I have read some really great books lately or this book was just not for me. I read it quick, trying my damndest not to rush through it. But bejesus, it was hard. And I hate to give a book a not so great review, especially since I'm so grateful for this ARC copy.

Ok let's get to it, their is Margot Nielsen,, the main character, not quite 18. A social outcast. Greying hair at her temples who lives with her strange mom, Jo. "There is no other family" her mom tells her. "We are all we got". By the way, her mom went grey early too and they have the same pinched features and maybe can pass for sisters. Maggots, not Maggots jeez, Margot's mom never hugs her, hardly takes care of her since she's a little girl, and constantly picks fights with her. Not a great life for either of them. And they have or Margot was taught to have a strange fascination with fire with a candle lit all the time. But why?

Oh boy this is where it gets a little better and then truly weird again a couple of chapters later. Margot finds out she has a grandmother living 3 hrs away and boy is she livid. She leaves her mom and goes searching for long lost Gram, whom she accidentally stumbled upon knowing in her mom's old Bible, which was across the street in a pawn shop. Nice guy huh, the pawn shop here won't take my gold for Pete's sakes. Maybe I will go there and try to pawn my dirty socks cuz this guy takes anything of her mom's and sells it back to her mom at a higher price. So I'll go sell my stinky socks for $1 and buy them back for $5 When I start missing them. And no I'm not comparing the Holy Bible to my sweaty socks!!!! Sorry I went mental for a second.

Well, When Margot enters her mom's hometown, she meets two kids her age Eli and Tess, who befriend her but after taking one look at her they know she's a Nielsen (Her grams last name) and takes her to her grams farm, which is burning. But Margot is not afraid of fire and apparently this is not the first Nielsen farm fire.

After things settle down and someone perished in th fire who Alex and Eli and Margot try to rescue here except the girl looks like a sister or twin of Margots. Does Margot have more family that her mom has taken great pains to hide from her? Well the po-po are suspicious of the Nielsens and have always been, but they are scared of gram or Vera, who sweeps in and gives them a mouthful. Margot finally thinks she's found long lost family and love but her mom is very reluctant to come get her. Why? Has she found the love and family she's yearning for or more crazy and also endless casseroles? Yum no wait yuck! I'm a foodie. Now if good ole Gram had a feast with lobster, lamb chops and filet mignon or was a female version of Gordon Ramsey, I might be able to do without the love and stay for the food. Wait what am I saying? Her gram makes her an egg with a tooth in the shell. WAIT! WHAAAT? I'm not eating eggs anytime soon. Jeez!

I still am scratching my head. The story just gets more and more weird. It just wasn't my cup of tea and I was so excited to get this book. I'm almost ashamed to give it 3 stars. I'm writing this and feel like I'm burning down or burning up. Maybe I have the flu and am delirious. Chalk it up to the Corona Virus, which is no laughing matter. I honestly don't feel good but I am rounding up my 2.5 to three burnt stars.

A special thanks to Delacorte Press, NetGalley, and Rory Power for this ARC copy for my very honest opinion. I just feel like I did something bad. I hate to be the meanie.

I've read both Rory Power's books, and I'm not sure it's the author for me. While she's very talented with description, the endings of both BOBD and Wilder Girls left a lot to be desired for me. The book had a fast pace and I did burn through it quickly, but it just wasn't for me. I think anyone who appreciates unexpected endings may enjoy this, so I would recommend giving it a shot.

I was soooo excited when I was approved for an ARC of this book! I loved Rory Power's debut novel, Wilder Girls, and was eager to read something else by her. Unfortunately, this just didn't work for me. It's more of a "me-thing", though. I couldn't get invested, and even though I kind of saw where the mystery and plot was heading, it just wasn't enough to hook me. I do plan to give this another go after it's published, just on the off chance it was more of a "wrong-place-wrong-time" situation.

I will say, Rory Power's writing is phenomenal. The writing style she chose for this was so distinct and interesting and easily the strongest part of the book. Whether or not the book worked for me, I cannot deny that she is a truly talented writer.

Well. Wow. That was messed up. Definitely not the direction I thought the story would go. Margot is a girl who had a bad childhood and a mother who I thought was just an unloving hag. What happens after Margot tries to find answers to who her family is, is pretty crazy and far-fetched. Didn’t imagine this was sci-fi when I started it. Still a good story that I will recommend.

3 stars--I liked the book.

Wow, this is a weird, twisted piece of Prairie Gothic! I enjoyed the dark, strange, unusual plot. It does require some suspension of disbelief, but no problem! I loved the gothic imagery in this book--the black but still growing corn fields shimmering under the relentless sun. The twisted, twined together ears of corn. The apricot grove that contains a dark secret. And the family, alone in the farmhouse in the prairie, at the heart of it all...

I'd give this four stars, but I would have preferred a third-person narrator (I find first-person narration lazy in many cases. Why is YA filled with it?) for a more balanced/less emotional story. (Just a personal thing.)

I would have loved this so much as a teen!

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

I love Rory Power and I love this book. This is exactly the kind of thing I want to read and fill my shelves with. Almost from the very beginning I felt like I was stepping into The X-Files. You could tell something creepy was going on and speculate all day long, but there was no figuring out the puzzle until all the pieces were on the table. I thought the pacing was perfect. The characters were intriguing and made me want to figure out all their secrets. I did expect a darker ending than I got and I'm simultaneously relieved and disappointed that it turned out to be a pretty happy ending for the main character.

There is one thing about the plot I don't understand that I think needs clarification/editing. Main character Margot's mother is Josephine, and Jo has a twin sister named Katherine. Margot embarks on her adventure when she finds an old photo and a telephone number hidden in her mother Jo's bible. She travels to her grandmother's farm and finds her aunt Katherine's bible, which has been treated like a diary and reads like "Jo broke my arm," "Jo is sick," "Jo says we're not sisters anymore." But then that bible turns out to actually be Josephine's, not Katherine's. At one point Margot's friend Tess speculates that Margot's mother might in fact be Katherine. That would make sense, if Jo killed Katherine and then stole her identity, but that's never confirmed to have ever happened. Instead, Jo has always been Jo and Katherine has always been Katherine. So why is actually-Jo's bible blaming Jo for everything actually-Katherine did, and pretending to be Katherine pretending to be abused by Jo, when Katherine was the one mistreating Jo? That just makes my head hurt. I have no idea what that bible situation was all about. It is really, really confusing and I feel like it's supposed to be some eye-opening plot twist, and that fell flat because it makes no sense. That part was just very messy for me.

Where the story really shone were the interactions between mother/daughter and grandmother/granddaughter. Those scenes made up the majority of the book, but the scenes without those interactions occasionally felt a little weak or not fully fleshed out. I felt like the police should have been more persistent or their appearances more frequent, something to make them feel more of a threat to Margot. When they were out of sight, they were out of mind completely. I think in general some of the secondary characters had such small roles they came across as insignificant. When the Millers died, I didn't really feel upset or bothered. The character Eli almost had no purpose in the story at all, and if he were cut out completely nothing would change.

I like how Rory's books always seem to end a little ambiguously. Just the right amount. You're not left scratching your head in bewilderment, but you do wonder about what's going to happen to the characters and the conclusions aren't that hard to draw for yourself.

Thank you so much for the chance to read this book. I really enjoyed it and have preordered a physical copy of my own!

I was pulled in my the writing. The haunting quality and the mystery drew me in. Overall the story was unbelievably bizarre. I am not quite sure how I felt about it.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me an e-arc of this book! I read Wilder Girls last summer and loved it, but this book was on another level. It elevated everything I loved about Power's writing. Her prose is stunning, her characters are gripping, and her ability to write scenes that simultaneously want to close my eyes and never look away is unparalleled. If this is the trajectory of her career, I'm so excited to see what she does next.

Burn Our Bodies Down was a difficult read for me. It starts right off with abuse, neglect, and gaslighting with a parental figure. Margot lives with her mother without any knowledge of any other family existing. When Margot finds a photograph with a note from her grandmother, it gives Margot a clue that other family exists.

Margot’s mother was upsetting and borderline triggering for me. There is a toxicity that almost hits home for me and the author is effective in portraying how this abuse weaves its way into other aspects of Margot’s life.

There is a sense of unease throughout this book that had me wondering “What is going on?” almost consistently. The twists were too late in the story, and at that point I didn’t really see what was so surprising by them. This book left me with a lot of feelings, and most of them were not necessarily good ones. I feel like this story was ultimately a miss for me.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

*Quickly adds Wilder Girls to my must-read list*

Also unrelated but what the heck why is everyone obsessed with that Wilder Girls cover? It's nice, but there are way nicer covers, plz calm down.

Anyway!!! This book was pretty wild. I didn't know what I was getting into at first seeing as I've never read a book by Rory Power but I'm definitely pleasantly surprised. It felt like a quick read, but it really held a lot of information in such a few amount of pages. I thought I knew what was going on and had everything figured out and while I was close - I don't think I would have ever been able to really guess what the grand plot of the book was. I loved that. This author has such creativity and originality that is so refreshing especially in YA books that seem to use the same tropes continuously. This is one of those head-scratchers that makes you say "Where did they come up with this stuff??" but honestly it works.

Margot has a dysfunctional relationship with her mother to say the least, and they don't talk about the past or their history. When Margot finds a clue to where her mother grew up, she jumps at the chance to get some answers, but things aren't always as they seem in this gothic YA thriller.

The writing style was beautiful and flawless and while a lot of the dialogue was very dramatic and a little over the top, something about how artful and pretty everything was made this unproblematic to me, whereas if it were another book it might be a little cringy.

I'd definitely recommend it. A fun read that will keep you guessing and tug a little at the heartstrings if you've ever felt like Margot's felt.

I love this solely for the fact that it gave me what Wilder Girls, unfortunately, couldn't give me: an ending with all questions answered.

I feel like this book sort of copies the same outline as Wilder Girls: a mysterious illness that only targets girls, questions galore, two lesbian friends defying authority in order to get to the bottom of the mystery. All mkxed with a little Children of the Corn vibes.

This book had me mind boggled and saying wtf for a good 88% of it. I was so intent on trying to uncover the mystery behind Phalene and Fairhaven, and every new twist had me even more frustrated (in a good way lol) and confused.

Just like with Wilder Girls, I absolutely loved Rory Power's writing in this book. She definitely knows how to set up the perfect ambience for her stories, and there were so many quotable lines throughout out this book! She makes you feel for her characters; I totallk felt all the anger and frustration Margot felt towards her mother. I just wanted to hug her and never let her go.

The ending was a bit underwhelming once everything got answered but I was glad that all the questions were answered at all. So, I 1) definitely liked this book, even better than Wilder Girls and 2) definitely want to pick up more books by this author!



*thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was a very strange book. After reading the author's debut novel, WILDER GIRLS, I went into this book hoping for a twisty tale that unfolded in unexpected ways, and it certainly delivered on that account. The book flew by and was so quick and easy to read, which benefited the story due to the thriller/mystery genre. Overall, I didn't love the answers to the mystery but was very glad that the answers were provided in a conclusive way.

Margot has only ever known life with her mom, inside their small, dark apartment. Just her, her mother, and a candle. Margot’s mom has rules, she has control, and she’s suffocating Margot under the weight of it all—the unanswered questions, the isolation, the missing history and identity and everything in between. When Margot finally finds a small piece of a life that was, she takes the leap and gets out. But she runs so hard that she misses the warning signs, and once she gets to the one place she always longed to be, she realizes it might just be the one place she can’t escape from.

I had first read Rory Power’s Wilder Girls and instantly fell in love with Power’s world and girls and storytelling. When I got the chance to read her second novel, I jumped at the chance and wasn’t disappointed. Power’s voice is tumultuous and endearing, and I couldn’t stop reading Margot’s aches and pains and longing, her struggles and her unmovable will. The story itself was an enigma from beginning to end, and just like with her previous novel, I was itching to find all the secrets myself, unable to stop my search. While Margot is just a girl herself, her world is dark and abrasive and unforgiving, and sometimes that makes it difficult to read, but it’s always worth it to get just another page forward, to fight your way tooth and claw with Margot. I can’t wait to see what other world Power creates, but I know it’ll be one that takes strength of all kinds to survive.

Rory Power has knocked her second novel out of the park with an entry that is tight, with prose that is sharp as a knife and cuts in all of the right ways.

Margot Nielsen doesn't know anything about her family aside from her mother, and that relationship is fraught in ways she can never quite explain. When the chance to see where her mother came from, and to met her grandmother arises, she takes it and finds more mystery —and tragedy— than she could have prepared for.

Burn our Bodies Down is a story filled with trauma and the way we deal with it, family and the way it complicates itself, and also a land that has gone wrong and started sprouting *people*. The twists and turns through this book got me every time and I already want to read it again, go back in from the beginning knowing the truth so I can put each sentence under a spotlight.

This is an excellent story and one told in tense phrases that flayed me open and gave me life at the same time. If you enjoy messed up stories, tight prose, and characters that get under your skin and burrow deeper, this is a 2020 read you absolutely should not miss.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Definitely a da fuq just read, but with creativity and elan. 3.5 rounded up

If you enjoy a heavy dose of creepy and disturbing, you’ll find plenty to like in Rory Powers’ new novel. Margot and her emotionally-absent mother have a very dysfunctional relationship, and when Margot stumbles across information about the grandmother that her mother has kept a secret, she thinks she will finally get an opportunity to be part of a larger family. She travels to the town in which her mother grew up, and quickly gets enmeshed in her grandmother’s twisty corn maze of secrets and lies. There are moments in which the creepiness crosses over into almost silly in its farfetchedness. And the diary entries that Margot discovers are extremely convenient. That being said, there’s a good bit to enjoy here.

Thanks to Random House Children’s Books and Net Galley for the digital ARC.