I enjoyed this book. I think that Rory Power is a great writer. She can weave an unsettling tale with just enough body horror to be uncomfortable but not disgusted. Fans of Horrid by Katrina Leno, I think, will enjoy this one. Overall, I liked this book, but it did not blow me away. If you are new to horror and enjoy a bit of mystery, I believe you will love this.

Let me start by saying I'm a huge fan of Wilder Girls! I still love Rory Power's writing style but I had no idea what was happening throughout most of this book. In this book we follow Margot who has an estranged relationship with her mother and knows nothing about the rest of her family. She finds a picture and takes its upon herself to search out and runaway to her grandmother, in Phalene. However, once she gets there she realizes it wasn't exactly what she was hoping to find.

I honestly was super confused most of the time. I felt like the writing was good but the pacing was all wrong. I also, didn't really connect with any of the characters including Margot. I am still looking forward to reading more by Rory Power in the future. This one just wasn't for me.

Adoooooooreci went & bought a copy this book is so fun and this author is knocking them out of the park I can’t wait to see what they do next I will be eagerly waiting

Where do I begin? This was one of the weirdest books I've read but it was very intriguing and kept me interested throughout the whole story. I found myself relating so hard to the dysfunctional relationship between Margo and her mother. Some of the things Margo thought about their relationship were things I have thought in the past about my own mother. There were some points in the story where I felt the writing could have been slightly better or where I would have done things differently, but I felt that the plot was original and atmospheric. I almost want more about the town of Phalene, from the start of Gram's story to what happens next. Is it really all over???? I can't wait to read more by this author.

This book took me by absolute surprise and I loved every minute of reading it! I was not expecting the direction that this book went in but I just went along with it and boy was it an absolutely wild ride. I will definitely be picking up more of Rory Power's books in the future!

Powers efficiently achieved the goal of being creepy and unsettling. Although this book was not my favorite, I think teens that love horror will eat this up.

So first of all, I've read the book that Rory Power is well known for, Wilder Girls, and I only gave it two stars. I'm happy to say that my experience with Burn Our Bodies Down was completely different. When I was first reading it, I thought it would be a normal family drama thriller. I'm happy to say that it was anything but and it was wonderfully weird. Especially toward the end when you're finally finding out what's truly going on. Those scenes were captivating, I could picture it in my mind and I could NOT. STOP. LISTENING. I'll be recommending this a lot and I'll be looking forward to anything else Rory Power writes. Also, the narrator, Lauren Ezzo, is excellent. I recognized her voice from when I listened to The Kingdom of Back and it made the listening experience even more enjoyable.

I really loved the last 50-75 pages of this book when there was this sudden undeniable momentum, but I was pretty bored for the entire first half. I like the ideas it was playing with and I've found I enjoy the particular type of horror this book turns out to be at the end, but the entire book felt so fraught? It was generally stressful.

Description: Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along. But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for. Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there? The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

As much as I really appreciate receiving this book for review, I would have to say that it was just okay to me. I tried really hard to get onboard with the characters and the plot. However, it was absolutely CONFUSING. I couldn't connect with Margot and nothing about her story intrigued me. The whole book felt like it was running around in circles and by the time the book ended, I was just relieved that it was over.

2.5 Unnerving, disturbing, weird, skin-crawling, and just plain odd. All these things don't necessarily add up to a great horror story. There were parts of this book I appreciated (good suspense - especially since I didn't give up on it and stop reading), but overall it just wasn't worth it in the end. The characters and dialogue felt stilted and somewhat plastic and unreal. The ending was a little predictable and filled with shock value. Basically, if you liked "Wilder Girls" (I wasn't a fan...) you'll like this one. If not, don't bother.

I tried. I’ve heard fantastic things but I just couldn’t get into the slow pace or writing style. But I am the minority here - so I think I might need to try again at another time

Burn Our Bodies Down was creepy and weird and I loved it! I went into this book not knowing anything about it. The writing was so great and the pacing was really good. I didn't love Wilder Girls but this has me excited to check out more of Rory Powers work.

I have discovered how much I enjoy young-adult horror/thriller books.
WOW! Rory Power did amazing with this book! This was the first book I read by Rory Power and have since read all of her other books but this one was by far my favorite of them all (I loved them all though).
Burn Our Bodies Down was the perfect amount of disturbing, gritting, and haunting. Plus, it was sapphic!
I really enjoyed the perspective of Margot. I felt bad for her at times because she is more the mother than her mother Jo is. I felt for Margot more than I expected to and it made this book all the more compelling. I was so enthralled in what was gonna happen that I read it in one night!
Major Children of the Corn vibes also!!

This was a amazing book with a plot twist I didn't see coming. I love this author and will read anything she writes.

For as long as Margot can remember, it’s just been her and her mom. The two of them just managing to scrape by. The struggle to make it from one day to the next becomes more and more difficult and at times the line between who is mother and who is daughter is blurred.

Desperate to try and stay in her mother’s good graces, Margot decides to try and buy back some of their things from the local pawn shop. Buried at the bottom of a box, Margot finds an old bible and tucked among the pages is a photograph. On the back is a name and a phone number as well as the name of a town – Phalene.

As pieces begin to come together, Margot believes she’s found what she’s been wanting her whole life. A family. It is only that the longer she spends there, the more she realizes not everything is as it seems. Even perfect families have their secrets.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power is one of those books that while the subject matter made it difficult to read at times, neither could I put the book down.

In the first chapter we are introduced to Margot and her mother Jo, and it is here we get our first glimpses of how dysfunctional their relationship is. Their relationship is not a good one, it could easily be described as toxic. A truth that Power does not shy away from and instead lays bare. In showing the dichotomy between Margot and her mother, we see the abuser and the abused. One feeding in to the other in a never ending cycle.

Burn Our Bodies Down is not an easy book to read. While classified as Young Adult, the subject matter might be a little too difficult for some readers. Truthfully, some adult readers might have trouble as well as some scenes could be considered triggering.

This does NOT mean that Burn Our Bodies Down is a bad book – the truth be told, I thought it was a very good book. It is only that a handful of scenes may hit a little too close to home for some readers and would thus take the enjoyment out of an otherwise enjoyable book.

Under most circumstances, I finish my reviews with the answer to the question of whether I would recommend this particular book to my readers or not. With Burn Our Bodies Down, I do recommend it but I also advise my readers to not go in blind.

Burn Our Bodies Down had an intriguing and suspenseful plot, but I found it to be too convoluted and the surprise ending did not pay off. Margot Nielsen knows nothing of her family history and she is tired of living in the dark. She has a strained and unhealthy relationship with her cagey mother who is emotionally distant, manipulative, and has a strange set of rules. When a clue about their family history surfaces, Margot follows it despite several dangers that suggest otherwise. She finds the grandmother her mother never wanted her to know living on the family homestead in an economically depressed town where the Nielsen name seems to be shrouded in a cloud of suspicion that inspires trepidation among locals. Despite ominous foreshadowing, Margot still longs to find in her stoic grandmother, Vera, the love and connection that have been withheld from her. Their relationship is quickly complicated by a fire on the farm that results in the death of a girl with an uncanny physical resemblance to Margot—and whose existence her grandmother refuses to explain.
Powers creates a great, creepy ambiance in her work, but it also unfortunately interferes with her character development and created plot holes that readers are forced to accept and move along. Lots of questions begin to pile up but the answer are too pat for this book that wants to straddle the genre lines of thriller, speculative fiction, and horror. The plot's pace is also inconsistent as the creepy moments happen too close together and the unsatisfying solutions lag quite far behind. While I may not be the right reader for Burn Our Bodies Down, readers who are looking for a unique story line may be intrigued to pick it up. Though this one is a miss for me, I am still interested to see what Powers does next.

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.