I was not a fan of Wilder Girls, but I decided to pick up this book anyway because of all the hype. 

This book got 4 stars simply because of the twists and turns. I was completely along for the ride the entire time and it was absolutely insane. Actually some of the characters were insane but this is a no spoiler review so I'll stop there.

The story was easy to follow and I did read it in one sitting. From the very first page, I was wondering what this book is about, and what the main character was going to find out about her family. Even up until the end, you're left guessing and shocked. Another thing I like is that this is a standalone and I am totally into standalones lately because I don't have the time to commit to more series right now.

This cover is absolutely stunning and fits the story so well. I am honestly surprised at how much I liked this book and while I felt like the story unraveled a little bit slow, it was worth the wait. It was enigmatic and haunting and mysterious. I will definitely pick up whatever Rory writes next!

Thank you so much to netgalley for sending me a copy of this book. I loved Rory Power’s Wilder Girls and was so excited for this book. I was not disappointed it turned out to be a new favorite book. I loved the characters and the aspect of mystery.

Atmospheric. Lovely. Quiet.

Oh my goodness, can Rory Power WRITE! Honestly, she could pen a guide on how to brush your teeth and it would still be some of the most excellent prose to ever be written.

If it was not clear, Rory's writing style was probably the highlight of this book. That is not at all to say that that was the only thing about this novel that was excellent, because that's not the case at all. This story as a whole was simply incredible. It was moody and dark and twisted, and reading it felt like diving straight into a fever dream. There were times when I would be reading and I would feel as if I'd entered an entirely new universe, and it was such a magical experience.

These characters were nothing to rave about, but they were perfect for the story. They were suspicious, and you could never quite place their moral code, and they were just so interesting. I loved being inside the main character's head, and the complex relationships Margot had with her mother and her friends and everyone was so riveting to read about.

The story flowed smoothly, and although quieter, slower plots like these aren't for everyone, this specific one was totally my thing. The setting was so intoxicating and atmospheric, it was just a fantastic reading experience.

I leave my rating at 4.5 stars because although I loved my time reading and thought the ending was excellent, there just wasn't that final feeling of YES! THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER READ! It was, on the other hand, a book I would still heavily recommend.

Finally, thank you to NetGalley for approving me the arc for one of my most highly anticipated releases of all time, I swear I almost cried when I saw this notification pop up.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you, Random House Children's, for a free copy.

Margot has always lived with her mother Josephine, just the two of them. She has no history, no relatives, no stories about her past or Josephine's, only them, in their run-down apartment, with their fights and her mother's attitude. Margot longs for Josephine's attention, for a real family to hold on to, but her mom is destached, their relationship tense and strained. Until one day, in her mother's belongings, Margot finds a clue about their past, a photograph and her grandmother's number. Determined to find a family and some answers, Margot travels to Phalene, but there she will find answers she may not be ready for.

Burn our bodies down is a very peculiar and eerie read. It grips the reader's attention right away, because it's intriguing and Margot is a captivating main character. She's stubborn, indipendent, determined to find her answers and truths about her family. She wants to belong to a real family, a family able to give her love and attention, things her mother seems unable to give her.
The author wrote skillfully about their relationship, intense, difficult, full of half truths and tension, Josephine and Margot pushing one other, hurting and loving each other, until Margot decides to leave her mother and search for the truth on her own, looking for someone and somewhere to belong to.

The story is full of plot twists and the reader follows Margot in her research, trying to piece things together, wondering about what really happened to her mother, why she hid the existence of Margot's grandmother, what happened years ago and in that moment, because it seems that history is repeating itself in Phalene. Helped by Tess, a new friend and her grandmother's neighbour, Margot is involved in a murder investigation and she gets herself into a complex and creepy mystery until the disarming truth.

Able to capture the attention at once and never letting it go until the last page, the writing style is intense and evocative, the story thrilling.
Burn our bodies down is downright twisty, brilliant and eerie.

Burn our bodies down by Rory Power is a creepy and bizarre thriller. Margot is desperate to find out more about her emotionally distant mothers past, so she goes back to where her mom was born and raised. This is where she finds some very disturbing secrets about her family roots.

Incredible.

Margot is a neglected child living in poverty with her emotionally distant mother, until she learns her grandmother lives on a farm in another town. She leaves her mother, and her current life in hopes of finally fining a place where she belongs.

Wouldn't it be something if it ended there?

Burn our bodies Down is a short but sweet, twisty and delicious thriller very much in the spirit of "Sharp Objects". You can finish this book in 2 hours, but theres so much intrigue packed into these pages- so much slow, crawling atmospheric terror.

Following Margot as she slowly unravels her family mystery, Rory Power is an exceptional fictional gaslighter. It's easy to get wrapped up in the emotional isolation hurt that Margot experiences as the women in her life she looks up to most lie to and attempt to manipulate her..and it's all so true to life. Outside of being a thriller, Burn our Bodies Down is also an intense and sad story about emotional abuse, motherhood, and family identity. How do we distinguish ourselves from the family that has hurt and abused us? How do we carve out our own identity from our family legacy? And what does it mean to be "us"?

Its hard to talk about this book without spoiling it, because some of the revealed mysteries speak the most volume about why this brilliantly crafted thriller deserves a read, but I will say this- Outside it's lovely themes and thrilling conclusion, it's also a quick, easy, fast paced cinematic read with a lovely writing style and charming characters. It will keep you up all night, and itch at you during the day at work.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Wow. This book was bizarre and gripping and eerie. It definitely reminded me of Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl and Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker, but with a very weird, horror twist to it.

That being said, I had a hard time rating this book. I think for now its a 4 star book, but honestly, the way it boggled my mind could bump it up.

I really don’t know where to start with this. This book was a wild, wild ride from start to finish. I could hardly put it down. I was so wrapped up in the secrets of Fairhaven, and it was so fun for me to try and put the pieces together. I did not expect the book to go the way it went, but I’m glad it did. Margot was such an interesting and relatable character, even if I haven’t gone through half the things that she has, I could feel her anger and desperation throughout the book.

Wow. Wow. Wow! 5 stars to Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of one of my most anticipated books of 2020 and to Rory Power for writing this work of art. I might have gasped when I got the NetGalley notification and I’m not ashamed!

This book is an ache. That’s the best way I can describe the emotional journey it took me on. The way it talks about being a daughter and a sister and a girl (and a lesbian for that matter) all at once was absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking. Wilder Girls is one of my all-time favorite books, and I knew this one wouldn't disappoint when it came to the horror aspects—the world created in Burn is so vivid and dark and lush. The IMAGERY.

The plot is twisted, teeming, and roiling. I couldn't believe some of the twists. They were shocking and painful and so necessary to make this story what it is. If you're looking for something creative and fresh within YA horror, this is something you'd adore.

When this comes out in July, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Or better yet, go place a preorder right this second.

I have been very interested to read Rory Power’s second book because I wasn’t really Wow’d by Wilder Girls.
While I did feel this book was better than Wilder Girls it did fall short for me. I felt like the ending was a little lack luster. The whole time reading I’m coming up all kinds of theories about what would happen in the end, and I felt like the actual ending did not live up to my expectations.

Holy wow, what a strange, but great read! It’s absolutely chilling, but also very dark and disturbing. Written in a strange fashion, but one that absolutely hooked me. Definitely supplied me with plenty of suspense, chills, thrills, and shocks! It’s one I have a hard time rating, because it’s not my normal thriller, but yet it provided all I yearn for and more! Definitely look for themes, if you are one that has triggers to certain themes, as this is a book that might trigger you. I will be looking for more by this author, as I think although it’s a bit on the weird side, I loved it! Highly recommend to those who don’t mind books that are not just black and white, but yet dip into a little rainbow color side! You’ll feel a bit funky, but will get your thrills, chills, and shocks!
Will make sure I buzz it up on all the different platforms!

Trigger and content warnings are listed here: https://itsrorypower.com/books/burn/

"Keep a fire burning; a fire is what saves you. The first, the last, the heart of them all."

Rory Power does it again! Burn Our Bodies Down is a beautiful, painful, brutal, and tragic exploration of intergenerational trauma. It is yet another breathtaking novel that shows the worst in people.

Her prose is, as always, beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever had as many highlights and notes in a book... ever. After Wilder Girls, I wasn’t sure how she was gonna top it, but she managed to do that with this book.

Now, let’s get into this!

"I love her so much more when she’s not here."

First off, Margot and her mother (Josephine’s) relationship. If you’ve got any sort of mommy issues, it will bring those feelings and problems RIGHT TO THE SURFACE. Jo is a verbally and emotionally abusive and negligent parent so Margot is extremely self-sufficient.
They fight constantly, and many of their arguments were painful for me to read because they reminded me a lot of my own relationship with my mom. At times it felt like Margot was reading my mind and saying all of the things I feel when I argue with my mom. There were some extremely heavy moments and almost difficult parts to read, but their messed up relationship is so raw and real.

"I wonder if maybe I’m on my own. With this, just like with everything."

Margot. Margot Margot Margot. She is smart, inquisitive, and brave. She may not seem conventionally nice, but she cares so much about everybody. She may not seem nice, but it’s just because she has been raised to fight to survive. Everything she does throughout the book is to help others, to keep them from experiencing what she has had to live through.

"I’ve seen enough boys to know he has the sort of face I think I’m supposed to like, but how can any of that matter when there are girls like Tess in the world?"

TESS!!! She deserves the world, ok? She, again, is not a character who is not conventionally nice. But she wants to help Margot, she is willing to listen to Margot when no one else is, and she allows Margot to do what she needs to cope with life. She deserves the WORLD.

"I never got good at recognizing attraction in other girls - it took me long enough to recognize it in myself, and even longer to say “lesbian,” without blushing."

The rep!!! We love a good canon lesbian!!! While Margot’s sexuality isn’t a main focus of the story, and there is practically no romance whatsoever, it is still an essential part of her character and important to include.

"Prove it. That’s the Nielsen family motto, after all. You’re hurting? Prove it. You deserve something better? Prove that too."

Overall, Burn Our Bodies Down is a captivating read that I will recommend to all. Not only does it comment on intergenerational trauma, but also addresses chemicals that we put into our bodies. Rory Power is a powerhouse and I cannot wait to read ALL of her books.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power was a roller coaster that I couldn't but down. It's the kind of book that makes you lose sleep. Both for the creep factor and the "but I just need to know if I'm right"/"what in the actual hell is happening" factor. I devoured it.

This is actually my first Rory Power book- despite the undying praise for Wilder Girls that I've seen, I somehow never got around to it. But after reading this. I immediately sought out a copy.

This was a quarantine read for me and I'll admit that the first few chapters were so depressing that it was hard to get through. I grew up with a single mother who battled depression, and though she did her best, things were not easy. There was not always food, she was not always okay, and sometimes I felt more like the parent. So I found the characters incredibly relateable but initially hard to read for emotional reasons. But once I got past those first few chapters, it was full throttle. And I had no idea what I was in for.

Power's writing style is utterly gripping, it is engrossing in a way that makes you feel inside the story. It is tangible. My fingers trailed a dusty dining room table, touched pages of a forgotten Bible, I could smell the fire in the fields.... and I truly felt the fear, pining, and longing as Margot did.

This is the kind of book that I'd caution readers and reviewers to be careful with- too many details and the richly woven story will lose some of its power. You want that uncertainty, that thrill, that 'can't sleep until I finish' feeling that can sometimes be so elusive. It's worth it to not go in prepared.

And as a side note, I really appreciate that this is another summer release with a queer main character. We need more of this. We're everywhere and we don't all want to read steamy and elicit affairs or coming out stories (though there is nothing wrong with either of those)... sometimes we just really appreciate a good story with a character that feels like us. Representation matters, whether it be queer representation, cultural and color representation, body diversity (in every sense- shape, ability)... it's important and I appreciate that diversity is becoming more prevalent in well-developed characters.

Big thanks to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Rory Power for the chance to review this ARC. As always, all opinions are my 100% my own and Burn Our Bodies Down is definitely one of my top summer read recommendations.

Once again, Rory Power’s writing has knocked me off my feet! Her writing is sharp and painfully beautiful. The way she wields grammar and syntax leaves me breathless. I absolutely devoured this book!

Burn Our Bodies Down is staggering in its raw intensity. The first-person POV keeps you completely immersed in the main character’s, Margot’s, thoughts and emotions as she struggles to find her roots only to discover they’re buried in poisoned ground. The build up of suspense and secrets kept me on edge until the very end!

Rory Power has cemented her place among my list of favorite authors. I cannot wait to share this book!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free eARC of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Burn Our Bodies Down solidified Rory Power as one of my favorite authors. After loving her debut last year, I was OVERJOYED to be able to read this one early and it absolutely did not let me down. Power's writing is compelling and addictive to read, and it keeps pulling punches throughout Burn Our Bodies Down.

This book packed some serious punches - ones that I still can't believe happened. And the ending? Woah. Absolutely WILD. Though I will say that those punches came with some trigger warnings - reading about our main character's relationship with her mom as well as with other characters in this book was hard to read. Serious gaslighting and just begging to be heard and listened to. It was painful and very raw.

Overall, this was a story about memories, family, truth, secrets, and a MidWestern farm that felt so real it felt like I could drive there and see for myself. In saying that, I also think that should be all you know going into the book. Going in blind is something I definitely recommend with this one.

Like I said before, Rory Power is now one of my favorite authors and I will absolutely die on that hill.

Holy cats. What a trip. What a ride! This book is a wild ride from start to finish and boy howdy, you will not see that ending coming.

It has always been Margot and her mother, or, well, mostly Margot. Her mother is mostly absent and easily upset when she is around. Margot has mostly raised herself. The pair have no friends, no family; no one else to turn to. Until Margot discovers a phone number. A phone number that leads to her grandmother.

One more fight and Margot decides it's time. She will take the phone number and find the only other family she knows of. She will find her grandmother and finally, FINALLY, learn the mystery at the heart of her life and at the heart of her mother.

Once Margot gets the town, she finds more than she bargained for. The day she steps off the bus there is a fire at her grandmother's farm. A deadly fire, with a girl in the field, dead. Dead, with Margot's face. Long lost sister? Twin? Cousin? Impossibility? No one, including her grandmother, is talking.

Margot decides that for once and for all, she is going to find out at the truth, even if it kills her.

I enjoyed Wilder Girls SO MUCH and grabbed at the chance to read this book when I saw in on Netgalley. Rory Power's writing is just phenomenal. Smart, witty, and haunting. The writing in this book did not feel "quite" as tight as it did in Wilder Girls, but honestly you guys, there's a pandemic going on and I"m sure I was distracted. I know for a fact, I DID NOT SEE THE ENDING COMING, and honestly, that hasn't happened to me in a minute. It floored me and stayed with me until, well, now, a week or so after I finished it. Definitely recommend. Get your hands on this and Wilder Girls! You'll be glad you did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This book is a trip! The mystery keeps getting deeper and crazier and by the end I almost didn't know what to think. In no way did I see that coming.
Margot has lived her life tiptoeing around her volatile mother, keeping herself fed and being the parent, tired of their roles. One day she finds a clue about her grandmother and leaps at the chance to find out about her family and escape her mom. Once she gets to town, she finds out there have been mysterious things happening on her grandmother's farm for years, including possible murders.

I enjoyed this mystery so much, getting clues bit by bit and finding out how deep this goes. The pacing was pretty quick and the story flew by. The ending was crazy and well done, I'm still reeling from it!

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own<i>

This book. HOLY MOLY. I was blown away. The writing was amazing, and had this way of pulling you right in from the beginning, and keeping you into the whole story. At times I felt like I was right there in the story.

I really liked the characters, and thought they fit into the story extremely well.

I was so eager for this book and now I've read it and it was everything I wanted and more.

Margot has always lived with her mom. No other family. And that's been fine, but then she's trying to do a nice thing for her mom and discovers that she has a grandmother. More specifically, she has a name and a phone number for the grandmother she's never met. Margot finds a way to get there, and then ... that's where things get strange. There's a cornfield on fire, and in the fire there's a girl. By the time Margot and her new companions get the girl out of the fire, she's already dead, and that's not the weird part. The weird part is that the girl is identical to Margot in every way.

So ... who is she? Who is anyone in this town? Why does Gram stay when her farm is in ruins and the locals dislike her so much? What is it that nobody's telling Margot?

Mysterious and haunting with some creepiness that you can only get through exploration of small-town interpersonal politics and long memories. It's no <i>Wilder Girls</i> but it's still a great, compelling story that keeps the reader guessing even long after turning the last page.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy crap. Burn Our Bodies Down was good, don't get me wrong, but what the heck did I just read guys? So much shady crap went down and I feel like my head is constantly spinning still. In it, you will meet Margot and honestly this poor girl went through so much.

I have no idea who she is still hanging on or handling life after what happened. For real, to find out that you have a whole family that you never heard of before. Then to find out that this whole town is creepy and weird.. and so is her gram. Boy, it was a wild ride learning about her mom and what she did growing up.

Heck, I have no idea what is even going to happen next for this town or family. No idea if there's going to be another book but damn, I kind of want one. Just to see where Margot is now and if she went back to her mom or not.

In the end, this book was so good and I devoured it all.