This book was excruciatingly slow. The fact that the narrator was pretty great almost made the audiobook worse, because she added so much emotion and depth to scenes--hours of scenes--where nothing happens. Margot is a naive, do-nothing protagonist who angsts about having to make choices without actually making a single one. She just sits around until things happen to other people in her proximity. There is literally no plot to speak of until the last 15% of the book, and at that point it's too little, too late. The "mystery" is hastily explained and neatly resolved.

My primary issue with Wilder Girls was that there were tons of threads that never resolved. That's a problem here too, but it's secondary to the core structural issues that permeate the entire text. She does commit to body horror, which I can appreciate, but it's purely an aesthetic, not a storytelling device.

This book gets two stars instead of one because I do think it does well with demonstrating generational cycles of abuse, but that's literally the only good thing I have to say about it.

#book review
Margot and her mother have a poor relationship. They don't communicate, they fight regularly, and Margot shoulders much of the burden of taking care of them, often in secret to avoid further arguments. Margot's mother had kept her past (and Margot's family) a secret but when Margot discovers an old photograph with a phone number on it, she knows she has discovered her grandmother. She decides to return to her mother's hometown and meet her grandmother for the first time, she is shocked by the resemblance. Margot and her mother looked like sisters, but her grandmother and her mother look the same, too. Her mother grew up in a small town in Nebraska. Phalene is a declining farm town where the face Margot wears earns her immediate distrust from the neighbors. To be a Nielsen means to be trouble. When her grandmother's fields are lit on fire, Margot attempts to save a girl caught in the flames--a girl with her face. As Margot begins searching for answers, she finds more and more secrets held tight.
As I listened to this audiobook, I first thought it was like a Gillian Flynn novel with a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. (Gillian Flynn would be proud, btw. Powers does this very well.) But is that Holly Black peeking around the corner? A town named Phalene and a farm that has pink water and grows only apricots and corn? My brain was screaming, don’t eat the food, you’ll be trapped! I won't give away the final author I thought of because it would spoil the book. But there's definitely a third influence in there.
That said, Rory Powers packs a lot into this book. Unlikable characters, mystery, identity struggles (because Margot's whole family looks exactly like her and who are you apart from your mother, especially if you look the same?) crappy mothers, the list goes on. It's a lot for one book and I'm not sure Powers wouldn't have done well to scale back on some of it. In all, I call this book a success. It was creepy, and what the characters lacked in development, the character relationships more than made up for.
Personally, I was never able to get completely lost in this book and I don't think it is one that will stick with me for long. I enjoyed it. The narration had good pacing. At points, Lauren Ezzo seemed to get more dramatic than necessary but it's a style, I suppose. I found it jarring but I'm sure there are many people who would enjoy it. I will certainly be recommending this book to teens who want a creepy read.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I didn't know anything about this book going into it. The cover was intriguing, the reviews were pretty good and the synopsis sounded fun.
I was immediately sucked into Margot's world, I felt bad for her because she didn't have a great relationship with her mom and her mom was all she had. Her mom refused to tell her anything about her family and that's all she ever wanted. I was so excited when she found her grandmother's phone number because all I wanted was for Margot to find her family (even though I knew from the synopsis it probably wouldn't end well). It was very easy to find those emotions.
Once we met gram (but after the fire), everything seemed to be going well and the story got a tad slow. I was still very interested and my mind didn't wander while listening.
Once Margot found out about Katherine, things got WEIRD. It got a little bit out of the thriller and into the fantasy almost. The second half of the plot line was fast paced and I was super into it. It reminded me a lot of Sawkill Girls.
I wish that there had been more between Margot and Tess and maybe a little bit more into Margot's mom and grandmother. I feel Margot was a very well thought out character, but most of the side characters I wanted more from.
If you are looking for a spooky, creepy read, this one is definitely for you!

I requested this ARC because I LOVED the author's first book, "The Wilder Girls". Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with "Burn Our Bodies Down". I appreciated the narrator and do not have any criticism about the audio book format, but just couldn't get into the plot. The novel beings by describing the relationship between a mother and daughter that is stressed and secretive. This drew me in and I was excited to see where the plot was headed, only to be disappointed by the slow pace of the body of the novel. I did not finish the book, but did make it over half way through before I completely lost interest. Power did a good job building the characters and giving them complex emotions, but the plot moved so slowly, I did not find a reason to continue reading. I am willing to try the author's next title, in the hopes that it is faster paced.

The audiobook by Lauren Ezzo was really emotive and wrought with tension - she captures the teenage voice and paranoia so well. I really enjoyed her narration of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe too, and since then she's been one of my favourite narrators.

The story was a little slow to get into, and overall not as enjoyable as Wilder Girls, which was one of my recent favourites.

I read Power’s first book physically and after reading this in audio form I think I really prefer her storytelling this way. I found Wilder Girls predictable so this was refreshing. I spent most of this book trying to figure out where it was going. I think the middle ready dragged, but the plot twist was very impactful and interesting and a lot darker than what I’ve typically seen in YA. Generally I’m a fan of eco horror and I think this book had a much better commentary than WG.

What I really wish is that Power would move to adult horror and take it much darker. She has great concepts and I think they are held back within YA—I think she could go really dark and gritty with it.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯. ⁣
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I was so in love with this cover the minute I laid eyes on it and I was anticipating one of the best YA reads of 2020 with all the rave reviews. ⁣
But those reviewers must have been reading something entirely different from what I read..lol ⁣
Really though not everyone feels the same about a book and it looks like I’m just in the minority with this one I think. ⁣
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“𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”⁣
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Margot lives alone with her mom Jo. Jo is kind of a mess, she doesn’t really take care of her daughter. Margot is pretty much on her own and their apartment is just a roof over her head and not really a home. She loves her mom regardless and wants to know more about her family and how her mom became the way she is today. But Jo refuses to answer anything about her past whatsoever, in fact she actually will go as far to make Margot swear not to ask anything else about her past. But Margot is not giving up that easy and finds some clues about where her mom grew up and takes off to the small town of Phalene where her grandmother Vera lives in the ancient house called Fairhaven. But instead of finding answers there’s just more questions. And the biggest ones are who is the mysterious girl that looks just like Margot, that died in the fire on Vera’s property? And why does nobody in town seem to recognize her? ⁣
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I just couldn’t get into this book! It was so underwhelming to me. It took so long to finally get to the root of what was going on and in the meantime it was a confusing mess. And I didn’t like the premise at all in the end. It wasn’t scary it was just weird. ⁣
And what I thought could possibly turn into a diverse read just barely glazed over a possible LGBT relationship between Margot and Tess. It was brought up like twice in a couple sentences and then dropped completely. I was like huh? ⁣
The one thing I did enjoy about this was the writing style. The author is very descriptive in her story telling and there was an excellent creep factor. ⁣
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𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:⁣
The book was narrated by Lauren Ezo and she does a great job of bringing the story to life with her smooth melodic voice. ⁣
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Overall I was disappointed in Burn Our Bodies Down it turned into something I just wasn’t interested in but I’m still open to checking out further books because Rory Power is obviously a very talented author.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I hadn't read the Wilder Girls but had heard so much about it that I wanted to read this author. I thought this was a very interesting book. I'm not usually a sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I liked that element of this book. **It isn't obvious throughout the book until the end.** I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well developed. The story kept me guessing until the end. It was a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of the audio format of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Rory Power writes a semi-horror, suspense YA book. I enjoyed the beginning the most. The set up is about a teenager named Margo and her mother Jo. Jo is very secretive and is barely able to take care of her and Margo. Margo is more the parent in this relationship. Margo discovers some information about her mother's past and decides to go to her hometown and find out what she can about her bizarre mother. The lead up to the TRUTH is slow and methodical. But the revelation of the truth about Jo and her family is just so strange, it's hard to buy. But I did enjoy the fantasy/horror elements to this story and found it very well written. I look forward to Power's next book.

Rory Power really has the “power” to create creepy, and intriguing stories. The horror that escapes her mind leaves me wondering how she thinks up these things. This story is not what I was expecting, the twist at the end had me at the edge of my seat. The character development of the main character - Margot- is thrilling, and the narrator nails it! So much emotion and fear in her words. Another 5 star review for Rory!

Margot and her mother have a dysfunctional relationship where they each rely on each other. Margot begins inquiring about the rest of her family, but her mother refuses to give her any information. Then she begins to find clues about her grandmother, who lives in a faraway town called Phalene. Upon arriving Margot discovers that the town is not the biggest fan of Vera and that there are a lot of secrets her grandmother is hiding.

This book was CONFUSING, to say the least... I never felt like I connected with Margot and honestly didn't care about what was happening to her during the story. I did really enjoy the exploration of Margot and Josephine's toxic relationship which also brought in the grandmother as well. It was interesting to see how Josephine exhibited a lot of the actions her mother, Vera portrayed as well. The books ending was a bit unsatisfactory and, it felt a bit rushed in my opinion.

I received an ARC audiobook from netgalley for my review.
I did not like this book. When it started I was unsettled with the narration style and and narrator. I kept going though hoping that maybe it would get better and make sense as the story progressed. The narrator sounded like she would be more appropriate narrating a dystopian sci-fi not some strange contemporary magical realism story. Margot grew up only knowing her mother, who tends to pick fights with her and barely speak to her or act motherly at all.. she is also oddly obsessed with keeping a fire lit in their home, typically with candles. They are quite poor and her mother apparently "never learned to grocery shop" and brings home random food like olives and crackers instead of ingredients for a meal. I don't know how Margot was able to grow up in her mother's care without coming under the eye of social services...Margot becomes so desperate for a loving relationship that she snoops in her mothers things to try and find a clue to other family. She finds it. A photograph and on the back is a name, a date, location, and phone number. Margot immediately calls the number from a pay phone in the middle of town (they're poor remember) while she was trying to talk to her newly found "Gram" her mother is on her way home for lunch and sees her. Of course she's angry but it's hard to say why. Her mother is so mysterious and manipulative about her family and how she wants Margot to herself but seemingly doesn't have any love for her. This sparks Margot to leave home and her mother to try and find her Gram. She hitchhikes with a stranger who miraculously agrees to drive her three hours to her Gram's. In what world would this really happen? This also happened extremely briefly. She gets to her Gram's town and wasn't sure how to get to her farm, which was noted on the photo. She comes across some teens hanging out and strikes up a friendship with one of the narcissistic, charismatic, popular girls who turns out to be her Gram's neighbor. She finds out a bit more about her Gram and family but it's like pulling teeth the whole time.
The whole story was suspenseful almost unnecessarily and gave me vibes of V.C. Andres and Shirley Jackson. The whole mystery boiled down to how Margot, her mom and Gram all had eerily similar faces and why. It was really dramatic and luckily the reader gets answers in the end so we're not left wondering what really happened (I hate open endings). One thing I can compliment the author on is that the writing itself was good. She did a great job portraying Margot's desperation and every other emotion and putting down her inner monologue into words, while I didn't necessarily agree with it a lot of the times she did it well. The narrator also did a good job audibly portraying the emotion but I often had a hard time determining if what she was saying was dialogue or inner monologue from the character. Overall if you like suspenseful mystery give it a try and see what you think but I'm not going to go out of my way to recommend this to anyone.

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? (Goodreads synopsis)

Much like Wilder Girls, this book is just different. It’s odd, its way outside the box, and sometimes you find yourself thinking “this is just so weird.” That said, I still really enjoyed this one! I was so confused at times of what was going on and why all of these crazy fires were happening, and who is this girl? In the end though, this book kept me trying to figure out what was actually happening until the very end!

Rory Power has proven with her sophomoric novel that she knows how to write something unique, quirky, and weird. She can write something that takes all of those things and make it work. Burn Our Bodies Down is no different!

This book features a lot of things that I enjoy: familial dynamics with some dysfunction and secrets, small town shenanigans, strong and determined female protagonist, and a whole lot more! Power is able to weave all of these elements together and leave you with a total WTF feeling... but in a great way! This review is a little difficult to write because I do not want to give away many examples or allude to the plot because unraveling all of that is one of the best things this book has to offer! Because I promise this book does not head in the direction that you think it does time and time again. This book is creepy and weird and you need it!

I am unable to give this book a review as the Net Galley audio book listening system is very poor if you listen at anything more than 1x speed. As I'm heard of hearing the sound quality is too poor for me to listen to this book. I would appreciate if you are able to resolve this issue as soon as possible?

This was an odd but interesting story. It was okay but I did feel like the first half or so dragged, so I would definitely say this is a slow burn. I enjoyed the horror elements but wished there were more. I didn't really care for any of the characters so it was hard for me to be invested in the story. ⁣
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I have to say I did not like the narrator for this audiobook. I never wanted an audio book to end so badly. That may have been why I didn't enjoy this book as much too.⁣
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If you like angsty teens, creepy atmospheres and slow burn thrillers this may be a book for you!

Characters
I'm torn about this one. I really liked the story, but the characters bothered me. I couldn't understand Margot's intense desire to know her family and to know what happened in the past.

Now, not relating to/understanding a character is not a reason to dislike a book. It's physically impossible to relate to every single character in every book you read, because why would you only read books about people like you? However, I didn't sympathise or empathise with Margot. I just felt super detached from her character (probably because I'm an emotionless robot most days).

Her rage and her anger come off as selfish at times, and even though it doesn't invalidate her feelings at all, it just didn't make me feel anything.

Characters = 4

Atmosphere/Narrator
This book is supposed to be a horror, at the very least a thriller, but I wasn't scared. While body horror and gore gross me out, it doesn't necessarily scare me. The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job though. Her voice made the creepy atmosphere come through and the acting was really great.

The last 80% of this book included a lot of the gore and twists. [su_spoiler title="Spoilers!"]The murders at the end certainly added to the shock factor.[/su_spoiler]

I just wish some more creepy stuff happened throughout the book. We do get snippets here and there, but it didn't add enough to the overall feel for me.

Atmosphere = 6

Writing
Rory Power is an excellent writer. Her stories flow really well and read very smoothly. I loved her debut book, Wilder Girls, and her writing has only improved from there. The themes, set-ups and payoffs of this book were done well and I'd read more of her writing.

Writing = 7

Plot
Once again, some of my main issues are with the plot. Mainly the pacing. Almost all of the important action happens during the last 20% of the book, which made the first 80% really boring.

The story has some supernatural elements to it, but it's grounded in reality enough to make sense. The whole plot could also have been solved with a single conversation, which is really one of my biggest pet peeves.

Plot = 4

Intrigue
As I said, I listened to the audiobook version of Burn Our Bodies Down. I was fairly into the story for the first part and the last part. The middle waffled a bit. It was interesting enough to keep me going though, as I wanted to solve the mystery.

Intrigue = 5

Logic
Some suspension of disbelief is required when reading this story, but logically everything makes sense. The story actually touches on some real-life scary things, such as gene manipulation and GMO foods. You are what you eat, kids.

Logic = 5

Enjoyment
Was this the best book I've ever read? No. Was it the worst? Also no. It has some pros and cons, but ultimately I would say it was average and maybe a bit forgettable. However, this book is someone's favourite, so I've linked a 5-star review for you here!

CAWPILE = 4.8/10

Stars = 3

For her entire life it has just been Margot and her mom. No family, no history, just the struggle of trying to get by. But Margot wants more, and when she uncovers an old photo it leads her to a town called Phalene and family secrets that are more than she bargained for.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Rory Power for providing me with an ARC audiobook of Burn Our Bodies Down!

I wanted to like this so badly. I really did. I gave it about 40%, and I just couldn't do it. It was so bizarre, but not in a good way. I didn't know what was happening, where this was going, anything. The story line was all over the place and I just couldn't figure out what story was trying to tell itself. Super sad, but this one just wasn't for me.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to read and review this ARC audiobook!

I received an audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Burn Our Bodies Down is about a girl named Margot whose mother has kept all of her family and her past a secret from her. Margot then decides that she’s had enough and returns to her mother’s hometown to try and figure it all out.

This is a weird one. Truly weird and out there. But in a way that works for the story. It felt kind of like Sadie meets The Death of Mrs. Westaway all the way until right before the conclusion. The author does a very good job of setting the tone of the book, as does the narrator of the audiobook. There was a somber and chilling feeling the entire time I was listening.

I had to go back and check the genre a few times because I kept changing my mind about what the genre must be as I made my way through: mystery then thriller then horror then back to mystery then a jump into maybe aliens and science fiction?? 😂 This is not a spoiler I promise, just me trying to rationalize everything I was reading.

There’s only a couple of things that stand out to me as things I didn’t like. The first was that it’s one of those books where you truly don’t know what’s going on until the very end, and while I do like a big reveal, I also like when smaller things are revealed along the way. So I felt like it was kind of dragged out. The second thing is there was this weird and kind of annoying repetition through the story, where certain phrases and complaints were repeated quite often. It got a bit tedious for awhile in the second half of the book.

Overall, it was just a really odd, interesting story. The only thing keeping me from rating it higher was just that lull in the middle. I would definitely recommend this for people who like “weird books”, horror that’s not based on monsters or creatures, and mystery thrillers that revolve around uncovering family secrets. 3.5/5 stars!