Margot and her mother have been everything to one another. Yet, Margot's mother is distant, needy, and aloof. Margot just wants to know her mother, her past, her family, anything. When Margot finds her grandmother's number, she calls her. When Margot runs away from home, to her grandmother, she unravels more about her family history than she ever wanted to know.

I don't really know how to describe this book other than - odd. The characters were odd, particularly Margot's mother and grandmother. The story itself was odd, not in a bad way, it was just different. I'm not sure I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't dislike it. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

Okay, I really liked this. While I enjoyed Power's debut, Wilder Girls , I feel like she really hit her stride here. I found myself drawn into Burn Our Bodies Down almost immediately. Margot came to life for me right away and I was so invested in her story and where it would go. The mystery was soo twisted and I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. And I was absolutely wrong at every turn. My only problem was really some inconsistencies I'm sure will be ironed out in the final copy.

I also love the queer rep in this; the main character is a lesbian and while there is no romance she has that little "do I want to be friends with her or do I want to kiss her" struggle that I think most wlw experience when they meet another woman they're drawn to. I'm glad a romance wasn't shoehorned in here; I feel like it would have been out of place in the story considering what's going on.

Overall, this book is soooo good and I'll definitely be recommending it in the future!

If you have read Wilder Girls, you know just how weird Rory Powers’s books can be. For most of this book, I wasn’t quite sure if we were getting the same bizarre, sci-fi element. It read just like a really great thriller. It was creepy, but not scary. And there was definitely enough mystery to make me want to keep reading. But the twist at the end was something I never saw coming. And it screams Rory Power – I think strange sci-fi is her calling.

I loved this book. I really enjoy Rory Powers’s writing. Both Burn Down Our Bodies and Wilder Girls were so interesting and easy to read. I am absolutely blown away by her imagination. Honestly, I don’t think I could have thought of this plot in a million years. Her stories are so unique. I really can’t think of anything else like her books.

This is a difficult book to review, because I really think you should go into it not knowing much. The surprises along the way are one-hundred percent worth experiencing on your own. Just know that I absolutely loved it! And it is just as good as Wilder Girls. If you like fiction that is a little bit weird or mysterious, read Burn Our Bodies Down. Because it is amazing!

“Keep a fire burning. A fire is what saves you.”

YA Horror/Thrillers are hard to come by without seeming “cheesy” or too outlandish. Rory Power takes a fairly simple premise of family drama and brilliantly weaves in moments of science fiction, suspense, and grotesque horror in a way that I have never seen before. Her command of language is simple, yet she paints vivid pictures of the little Nebraskan towns the characters reside in.

Set in an almost southern-gothic farming town Margot leaves her seemingly absent mother to discover her true family, a secret that has been kept from her for seventeen years. Upon arriving at Fairhaven, Margot quickly realizes that she is entering a world that is much more than she bargained for. In this town, something is terribly wrong. Secrets lurk around every corner, with each revelation being more shocking than the last.

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ecopy of this novel.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Burn Our Bodies Down in return for an honest review.

Margot Nielsen is seventeen years old living at home with her mother. Her mother has had her follow a strict set of rules with no exceptions. Margot wants to know if there is any relatives in their family. Her mom always says no, we are the only two. One day Margot discovers that she has a grandmother. When she asks her mom about it, her mom refuses to say answer. Why? Margot goes through the phone book calling trying to find her grandmother. When she finally does, she can’t believe it. Her grandmother lives in a nearby town. She gets up one day and hitchhikes to the town where her grandmother lives. She meets a teenager named Tess who becomes her friend. As they go to her grandmother’s house, they learn that there is a fire. Margot sees a girl in the fire and goes to help her escape the fire. Margot’s grandmother refuses to tell her much about Margot’s mother’s life on the farm. As Margot with Tess’s help finds out that her mother was a twin., she confronts her grandmother who takes her to the bedroom that the twins slept in. Her grandmother won’t talk about them. It was frustrating for Margot. The more she finds out, she slowly becomes angry and upset. Why won’t her grandmother talk?

This story is a mystery with many secrets that don’t make much sense at first. It’s also about a dysfunctional family due to the secrets. It’s creepy and sinister throughout the novel. I liked Margot’s attitude of not giving up to find out the information about her mom’s life.

This one is not my usual genre, but the synopsis sounded intriguing and it's always good to mix it up.
Margot and her mom live together in a shabby apartment, struggling to make ends meet.
It's just the two of them, and when she asks her mom more about their family, she can never get any answers.
When she comes upon a clue to her mother's past, she takes off to the city of Phalene to meet her grandmother.
But if she had expected to be enfolded into a warm and loving family, she was disappointed.
It seems like grandma has secrets too.
Unfortunately this YA dystopian thriller just wasn't for me, but there are still plenty of great reviews for it so it might be something you'd like.
It was well written and original and had a creepy vibe, but it seemed to take too long to get anywhere, and the characters were unlikable and not very interesting.
Thank you Random House Children's Delacorte Press for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

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

Rory Power’s Burn Our Bodies Down is a well-written piece of literature. The protagonist, a 17 year old Nebraskan girl, is suffering from abuse and neglect at the hands of her mother. What’s more, her mother appears to be keeping secrets regarding their family history. When Margot, the young lady, finally gets her hands on a snippet of information regarding said family history, she runs away to her mother’s hometown in a desperate attempt to gain the love, acceptance, and stability she has yet to receive thus far. Once she arrives in Phalene, her mother’s hometown, she makes her way to her maternal grandmother’s farm. Upon her arrival, she discovers that her grandmother’s farm, Fairhaven, and her familial name, Nielsen, raise suspicion and awe amongst most of the local folk. A fire on the Fairhaven property, the same day of her arrival, ignites even more mysteries and a series of strange events.

This book is perfect for people who like their entertainment to be interesting and unsettling. The short chapters will appeal to reluctant readers; and, the plot twist will keep them coming back for more. The only thing that kept me from being completely in love with this piece is the lack of alignment between the pacing and the plot towards the end of the book.

Wow, this book was different and well written. I finished it yesterday and still have no words. The story follows a young woman who has a strained relationship with her mother and just wants to know where she came from. Little did she know that's why her mom was so....much. a dark tale of be careful what you wish for.

Burn Our Bodies Down is one of the strangest books I’ve ever read; it’s also a new favourite. I read it in just over 24 hours and now I want nothing more than to turn back time and read it all over again. This book feels like the hottest day of summer, it’s mystery wrapped in horror, something dark and twisted, something you don’t want to look at too closely, because even from a distance it makes you afraid.

It’s a book about trauma that spans whole generations, about abusive parents, about sibling relationships, about being your own person and making your own choices in spite of all that, all the mistakes the people before you have made—it’s about breaking the chain and making a life for yourself, out of the ashes that were all that’s been left for you. I loved every single page.

I absolutely adore Margot as a protagonist. Her fierceness, her relentless attempts to just understand: who she is, where she came from, and what it means to be a Nielsen—if she has to make the same choices her mother made, her grandmother made. Or if she can choose something else, something that’s just for herself. To be entirely honest, though, I have to say that I’m also kind of scared of her 😂

Rory Power, though. Isn’t she just an icon? For putting the word “lesbian” on the page, just like that; and also for letting Margot be herself, without the need for a love interest or a girlfriend (although I’d also love to read one of Rory’s books were the two girls actually manage to end up together).

God, but I’m still not over the family dynamics in this one. Emotional abuse is such a strange thing, not always tangible, at least not really, and hard to describe, because a lot of it is in the moments that just make you wonder if something’s wrong, without ever making it clear. But Rory Power did make it clear. How parents can abandon their children, put all the tough choices on them, and when their kids say it’s too much, it hurts, they say, “But what about me? What about how I’m feeling?”

All that aside, Burn Our Bodies Down is, in its essence, a mystery: and it had me hooked from the start. I was captivated, breathless, trying to figure out what was wrong with Phalene, the town Margot’s family came from, and with Fairhaven, her grandmother’s farm. The corn. The apricots. The teeth. The girl caught in a fire, the same day Margot arrived—the girl that looked just like her. I think I’m going to have nightmares for ages. But I love this book. I might love it even more than Wilder Girls (and I love Wilder Girls a lot); maybe I just love them in different ways.

What I do know is that Rory Power is an incredible writer, who manages to write stories that will always catch you off guard, stories that will leave you feeling unsettled, not only because of what‘s written on the page, but also because of all the things that were left unsaid.

This book is a masterpiece in every way, from Rory Power’s sharp prose, to the strange and eerie atmosphere she manages to evoke with her words, to the characters she creates: characters that are so real that it hurts, characters that carry their pain wherever they go and don’t really know where to leave it. This is a new favourite book of mine, just like Wilder Girls, and I don’t know what Rory Power is planning next, but I’m waiting impatiently to read it.

I was one of the unpopular opinions on Rory's first book, Wilder Girls. I absolutely adored it until the end. I went into Burn Our Bodies Down with semi-high expectations, and a little fearful of the ending. I ended up adoring this book.

The mystery grabbed me right from the get-go. It was a slow burn mystery, with little clues dropped here and there. Some made sense, some didn't until the very end.

The characters were all very interesting. The Neilsen family was alike, but different. Margot was a great vessel to figure out this mystery.

I highly recommend this to any thriller lovers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Margot’s relationship with her eccentric mother Josephine has always left her wanting. Josephine’s strange habits and need to control Margot has kept the girl socially isolated until a clue about Josephine’s family sends Margot on a quest to uncover her roots, but unearthing the long buried secrets comes with dire consequences.

BURN OUR BODIES DOWN kept me guessing until the very end, but after I finished I could see the seeds that had been planted all along. While the author layered mystery upon mystery, I never felt manipulated as a reader.

Margot is a strong young adult heroine. Her quest to understand her family’s secrets and Josephine’s strange behavior drive the story forward. Tess and Eli, teenagers she meets in her mother’s hometown, become Margot’s friends and partners in crime.

This book reminds me of FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC with it’s family secrets and matriarchal motivations. The rural landscape, themes, and weird fiction elements woven through give the story a new age gothic edge.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

Anything existing at the cross-section of body horror, gaslighting, and pastoral horror is something I’m kind of automatically inclined to be super into. That’s basically Burn Our Bodies Down distilled.

Margot has a deeply damaged relationship with her mother. It is absolutely fraught with secrets. Margot doesn’t know anything about her family or where they’ve come from. It’s just her and her mother, always. But her mother doesn’t really seem to like Margot all that much. She mostly leaves her to take care of herself.

Every time she asks about her father, or where her mother came from, or even if she has other family, her mother abruptly puts an end to the conversation. And why does she make Margot leave a candle burning at all times? Why does Margot have to light the candle for her every morning? It’s like some kind of ceremony.

But one day Margot discovers something which leads her on a quest to the place her mother grew up, and what family she left behind.

As she arrives at the farm her mother grew up at, she is greeted by smoke, flames, and a dead body. And that dead body just so happens to be wearing her face. She’s a dead ringer (pun intended). And her grandmother claims to have never seen her before – despite the fact that she was on her land, and that she looks just like Margot, who looks just like her mother, who looks just like her mother. So, clearly they must be related.

From that moment on shit gets weird. And occasionally gooey.

This book is atmospheric AF. It’s a real slow-burning body horror-heavy mystery story and I absolutely loved it. I loved the themes of emotional abuse/gaslighting, dysfunctional families, a little bit of queerness, and I loved all that corn! And the apricot groves! Although I would have preferred a gorier version of this story, I do accept that it is billed as YA, and therefore must be at least semi-safe reading for the younger teen crowd.

This is my first Rory Power book. I always meant to read Wilder Girls but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Now I feel like I should bump it up to a higher priority. Burn Our Bodies Down was GOOD.

WOW. Rory Power I think I love you. I finished this book in a day since I seriously could not put it down! I loved 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 and it’s even on my favorites list, so I couldn’t wait to dive into her new release. ⁣⁣The plot in 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 is intricate, fast-paced, and shocking with some unique twists I didn’t see coming. I thought I was on the right track at one point but this threw me for a LOOP. 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 has a complex family dynamic, suspenseful atmosphere, and well-developed characters. I think Rory Power is a very special author with a beautiful writing style and the ability to have readers on the edge of their seats with unease and asking “wtf is going on?!” I know this one won’t be for everyone, but I personally loved this bizarre story. I don’t want to say more and risk spoiling anything, but let’s just say there’s more to this one than meets the eye. Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and Netgalleyfor my gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest review. ⁣⁣

3.5. Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC copy. There were a few things I really liked about this book. First the relatively fast-paced plot. I was always turning the page and rarely, if ever wondering when a chapter would end or the entire book. It was intriguing enough to keep me going and wanting to find out the twist. Second was the fact that I was always trying to figure out what the twist was, and once I thought I had it figured out, Rory would throw something else at you and you had to second guess if your deductions were correct; nobody likes a mystery/thriller where the twist is obvious halfway through the book. Third was the plot twist, it was wild. After reading Wilder Girls I wouldn't expect anything less. I can't say much but that was weird and I loved it. I think the biggest thing that I didn't like of the book was the MC. I just didn't really connect with her. The other thing I didn't really like was an aspect of the ending regarding just desserts but I don't want to spoil anything. Definitely check this one out if you want a quicker read with a wild twist.

This story was creepy and twisty. I enjoyed it but I felt like the ending was kind of abrupt and not what I was expecting. It was still an entertaining read and kept me guessing the whole time. I received a copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"Nobody but you and me."

That's the way it's always been: just Margot and her mom. Margot has always had questions about her family, questions that her mother always ignored. All Margot ever wanted was to feel like she belonged, to feel loved. When she gets the chance to meet her family, to see where her mother grew up, she jumps at it. But, upon arrival at the family farm, things are not what they seem. Instead of finding a loving family, she finds more unanswerable questions. As she digs into her family's roots, she quickly realizes they run deep and may lead to a dangerous place.

"It's not love, to give your wounds to someone else."

I've had Rory Power's Wilder Girls for awhile now but just haven't gotten around to reading it. I got this one on Netgalley and really didn't know what to expect. Going in blind, I kept wondering what direction this book was going to go in. I never would have guessed the direction it did go in. I was worried, at one point, that it would be weird and unbelievable, which would have ruined it for me, but that wasn't at all the case. This was a bit of a slow burn in the beginning (character and story building, I suppose) that turned fast-paced. I didn't want to put the book down until I figured out what was going on with this family. I was really impressed by this book and will move Wilder Girls up in my TBR stack! And that cover is a beauty. If you are into dark YA, this one's for you.

The premise of this story grabbed my attention right away! A teenage girl sets out to another town to unbury her mom’s secretive past and hopefully discover more about the family she never knew she had. Are some things better left in the past? Do our mothers truly know what’s best for us?

This was an exciting page turner with a bit of a sci-fi horror twist. Looking forward to reading more from this YA author!

I need to get my thoughts about this book down approximately within five minutes of finishing it because 1) it was feverishly dreamy, but still sort of languid at times and I want to keep the memory and the feelings as fresh as possible and 2) it’s super messed up, so maybe if I write it down images from the book won’t haunt me in my sleep tonight *shrug*

In the beginning, there is Margot. She is nearly eighteen, it’s summer break and she has no one but her mother. From this loneliness comes the specific brand of manipulation and abuse that her mother inflicts upon Margot, and I would be fine to stay there and examine that a bit more, because honestly they are fascinating, but not long after meeting them both we, along with Margot, learn that there is more to their family. Secrets that her mother has been hiding.

That’s how she finds herself at Fairhaven, her grandmother’s home. The neighbor’s daughter, Tess, wants to help Margot, she becomes both an ally and a tentative object of attraction for her. She wants to believe she found the family she has been craving for, but it’s impossible for Margot not to notice the many gaping holes in Gram’s story as secrets begin to pile up and flames are catching. From there up until the (bitter)sweet end, Rory Power keeps you reading with a building sense of dread and awe.

I don’t consider myself a big thriller reader, but thrillers like this one, tinged with just enough horror and the macabre to make you uneasy and give you a stifling feeling, I adore. And here, I adored the deep dive into Margot’s psyche. She’s both a product of her upbringing and a direct reaction to it, so in the end she is left to reckon with who she is without those negative influences she calls family. The macabre elements serve to underline the overarching theme of self-identity and being willing to do anything to belong.

Overall, I loved this book for the questions it raised and the nightmares it will surely give me.

Many thanks to Random House/Delacorte Press for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. Wilder Girls was one of my favorite reads of 2019, but BoBD just didn’t have the same amount of hook. I couldn’t finish it. While I’m sure the family dynamics became more interesting throughout the novel, there wasn’t enough in the first 30% to hook me into reading more. I am hoping to try again when the audiobook is released because Rory Powers is such a great writer. I am giving 3 stars due to my experience with her other works, but will post an updated review to goodreads/amazon when I complete the novel.