This novel was filled with so much mystery and intrigue I was kept on my toes the entire time. I couldn’t put it down. The character arc was amazing, really relatable characters. I felt like I was in the story. The overall story left me wanting more.

Hello Gemmies! I have a new book review to share with you today. Please note: I received an audiobook ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power is a new YA horror thriller. This story was unexpected and full of twists and turns. But I cannot stress enough....this is a SLOW BURN. Like almost too slow. If you can make it to the 60% mark, you will be okay. The world building is super creepy and descriptive. It gave me 70's horror film vibes. The plot was well done, and Rory Power's writing is top notch. One of the main issues for me was I never really connected with any of the characters, especially Margot. I never became invested in her outcome. I have to give this book extra gem points though for the horror elements and creeptastic atmosphere.

Burn Our Bodies Down is narrated by one person Lauren Ezzo. Lauren does a good job of voicing each character. She is able to provide enough distinction between the characters that you can easily tell who is speaking. What really stands out for me is her ability to switch up her pacing to set an atmosphere for the story. There are parts that are very creepy and dark, and Lauren is able to convey that with her voice.

If you are a fan of dark slow burn thrillers with a horror twist then go read this book! This gem published by Blackstone Publishing is available for purchase from all major booksellers. I give Burn Our Bodies Down 4 out of 5 gems. Happy Reading!

Audio performance first: the Narrator was very good, really bringing life and emotional colour to Power's beautiful prose. This definitely works as an audio book.



The story was odd. It's a weird book in the sense of it doesn't seem to be set in our world but the world it is based in is only half a step from ours. While the dusty small town of Phalen is well realised, the rest of the world building is a little thin. The big hurdle for me was the characters shut you out. I wasn't really rooting for anyone. Margo, the MC, is comprised almost entirely of how she reacts to other people and her personality doesn't really emerge until the last chapter. I think this was probably the point since one of the things this book does well is examine difficult and emotionally abusive/ negligent mother-daughter relationships. But it was still annoying that there was nothing to really get a grip on with the MC.



This is horror but it doesn't really set out it's stall until things are resolved. Structurally I felt like I was reading a contemporary YA which was flirting with darkness and then jumped right in for the last three chapters. Basically you're going to spend a lot of the book waiting for the foreshadowing to start paying off and it doesn't really.



For all that the meditation on legacies of abuse and anger, on parent-child relationships and on a metaphorical connection with the earth was well done. It was beautifully written. Power's prose is stunning and that was what kept me listening in the end. The ending is very strange but I enjoyed it. I just wish it had been set up better in the early parts of the book so the payoff felt more satisfying.



Overall a decent horror YA. I see lots of other people love it even if certain things didn't work for me. Worth reading for the prose alone in any case.

Rory Powers does it again. Last year I read The Wilder Girls, and while I was hoping it would be a series (because I didn’t think I got enough closure) I was super excited to read Burn Our Bodies Down!

Power’s writing always has a mystery that surrounds the story and tends to have a weird, mutation type answer. The same can be said for this book. We meet Margot, our protagonist during the summer months. She’s lonely, lost, and struggling to feel loved by her mother. She also has no idea where her family comes from or even if she has any other family. When she finds a picture with the phone number of her ‘Gram’, she sets out to find the place where she belongs.

Upon her arrival a fire breaks out in the field’s of her family and a girl, who looks remarkably like Margot, is killed in it. When the police start investigating, they come to Margot to help uncover what her family has been hiding. What Margot finds will throw her life for a loop and even the life of her new found friend. I really don’t want to say to much more than that because it’s really better to read this book with an open mind but that ending, mind blown.

Powers has really stitched together a greatly bizarre family dynamic tale. She perfectly captures the ‘complicated’ relationship between Margot, her mother, grandmother, and the rest of the ‘family’. Ugh it extremely hard to describe this book without spoilers, fyi!

If you like Stephen King’s creepy vibes mixed with some ‘Children of the Corn’ and a bit of chaos then this book is perfect for you!

Ever since Margot was born, it’s been jist 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. 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. Only when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for. Her mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect her from what’s is still there?

Burn Our Bodies Down is a twisty, eerie and weird story that I was not expecting at all, and I just loved it.
This is my second book from this author, I read Wilder Girls and I wasn’t a big fan. I’m so glad I gave this author a second chance, I was hooked since the first chapters and it kept me guessing. It was dark, original, crazy and mind blowing.

Audio: This narrator does an excellent job with this audio. The writing has the character having conversations which bounce line by line between verbal dialogue and mental dialogue. The narrator does an excellent job with it so that it is easily identifiable for the listener which is going on. She also does an excellent job expressing the emotion the character is feeling. She’s shouting, she’s whispering….all are portrayed extremely well!

Story: Okay, literally the only reason I kept listening to this was because I needed to know wtf was going on. This book is GARBAGE…all the women in this are arguably bipolar & wrecks. They flip switches between angry, calm, agony...it’s exhausting & feels like a complete waste of time. WTF is the genre?? The plot kept building & then would plateau again. I had no idea what was going on. Literally took ALL my effort not to DNF. Should've DNF'd...

I did not enjoy this at all. Perhaps I unfairly had high expectations after Power's exceptional debut, but this just felt underwhelming after Wilder Girls.

I'm beyond grateful to have received this audiobook in exchange for a review. However, I'm having a lot of problems accessing the NG app, I didn't realise that I needed iOS 13 and unfortunately, I don't have that. I'm gutted as I'm so excited about this book, but I'll definitely be purchasing and reading soon and if I'm able to download and listen at some point, I'll 100% come back and review!

Burn Our Bodies Down follows Margot, a girl who's grown up knowing nothing of her family outside of her mother- her mother who refuses to speak of the past she ran away from. Margot desperately wants to know what other family is out there for her, and when she finds a key to unlocking a little family history, she takes it and runs.

Margot finds herself in a small town with her grandmother who just as stubbornly refuses to tell her the truth as her mother, attempting to figure out her family history and piecing together all of the clues that seemingly make no sense. But she's not the only one- there are a few police officers in town who want answers, too.

I listened to the audiobook of this one, and overall I did enjoy it. The narrator did a great job of portraying the atmospheric tone of the novel. This being a mystery/thriller though, I did expect to be more on the edge of my seat. It didn't feel like anything was actually going to happen until it finally did.

That said, I can see why someone would really enjoy reading this! The setting and the the characters are all intriguing, and it’s enough to keep you reading while the plot slowly reveals itself to you.

An creepy, inventive story about a family and the bizarre and macabre secrets it keeps, set amidst crackling corn and a creepy old farmhouse.

I went into this one with pretty low expectations because Wilder Girls didn't really work for me, but somehow I still came out of it feeling disappointed. This had all the makings of a book I should love: queer characters, rural small-towns, strained mother/daughter relationships, but something about this really just didn't click for me. I feel like I never really got to know the main character, which kept me from bonding to her or the story or honestly caring about anything that happened. I will say, while the story as a whole didn't super work for me, I did listen to this one as an audiobook and I honestly found the narrator's delivery to be the best part of my reading experience. I would say that if you DO want to read the one, the audiobook would be the way to go. Overall, I found this one to be pretty meh and I don't think I'll be reading more from Rory Power in the future.

At first I was not sure what to think of this book. Boy did that change fast. After the first few chapters I was hooked. Its a very interesting story line, sometimes a bit frustrating but in a good way. The author did a great job presenting such an interesting subject that's imposable and make you feel like it could happen.

I enjoyed the narrator as well. She did a wonderful job distinguishing between the different characters.

This audiobook was received as an ARC from Blackstone Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

There was something about this book that made it more significant when read the second time and when someone reads it out loud. There were many parts in the story that came out better the second time and were more meaningful than the first time I read this book and I just think that is absolutely amazing. I love the voice of Lauren Ezzo and how she enunciated the key points in the book and really brought to light even more of the relationship between Margot and her mother. I highly recommend getting this audiobook and following along with the actual book to really hear and see the story come to life.

We will consider adding this to our Audiobook collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Big thank you to NetGalley & Delacorte Press for an ALC of this one in exchange for my honest review.

Rory Power's sophomore novel tells the story of Margot, a girl who knows basically nothing about her relatives or family history. She only knows her mother and that is it. Of course Margot has to know more and one day finds a clue that leads her to a town called Phalene & to what Margot hopes are family members.

The narrator for this one did an excellent job. As far as genre for this, I would not say this is strictly a thriller, but more a combination of sci-fi and psychological suspense. I did enjoy the storyline of this one a lot more than Wilder Girls and found it more entertaining. All in all this one gets a solid 4 stars.

As a fan of Rory Power's other books- especially Sadie- I had high expectations for Burn Our Bodies Down. And there was so much there to almost sink your teeth into, unfortunately I fear for me, it fell short.

Now I must preface this by saying that I listened to the audio version so the narration must have colored my experience, BUT, there just felt like there was too much tension, too many unanswered questions, and little by way of answers and very very little by way of payoff.

Margot was crippled by her need to belong, to be loved, and it made me increasingly frustrated with bot her character and the story. I am trapped in a first person narrative, if Margot doesn't push for an answer, or she second guesses herself into a losing position in an argument, I have nowhere to go and feel relief from Margot's situation.

Her mother and grandmother are incredibly intransigent and dominate Margot completely. They refuse to answer even the simplest of questions, and if they do, they lie, so I felt like I was getting nowhere slowly. The town wasn't much help, and keeping rumors and knowledge out of reach.

And the ending..... I needed bloody satisfaction, and didn't get it.

As for the audio, my only complaint was that the narrator never changed her tone. Margot's voice was constantly fraught, so I felt like I was on the precipice of some huge moment that only came at the end of the book- and even so, it was underwhelming.

Yikes, it sounds like I hated Burn Our Bodies Down, but I didn't. I just feel like I could take it or leave it.

There was a lot of good things about this novel - the narrator, the familial relationship, the secrecy, and the eeriness. While the book was enjoyable, I was able to guess where it was heading.

This book is about a girl, Margot, who has lived her life according to the rules her mother has laid out for her. As curiosity about her family becomes consuming, she searches for answers that her mother has not given her. When she finally gets a sliver of hope, she's thrown off by more lies - everyone has decided to keep the truth from her, if they even know the truth at all. Will Margot find her family? Will she finally seek the answers she wants? And what will happen when she starts to see the whole picture?

Rory Power's debut Wilder Girls was one of my favorite books that I read last year, and I've been eagerly looking forward to reading her next book, Burn Our Bodies Down. This one takes readers to a strange small town where Margot is searching for answers about her family's history. Along the way, she uncovers a horrifying secret that links herself, her mother, and her grandmother to the family farm.

It's eerie, unsettling, and really gross (seriously, Power has a gift for the gross). I can be a little squeamish, but it's Power's writing that keeps me coming back for more. Her heroines are always that perfect blend of sharp edges and a vulnerable core, her mysteries always unfurl in ways you don't expect. In particular, I loved the line she explores here between wanting to belong to someone and wanting to stand on your own. Margot longs for the kind of relationship with her mother that she'll never have, but also prides herself on her independence. She spends the book reconciling the two, a matter made all the more complicated as she learns the truth about their relationship.

It was narrated by Lauren Ezzo, who I was familiar with from the audiobook for Renée Ahdieh's The Beautiful. If you're looking for a YA novel that blends horror and mystery, and if you loved Wilder Girls, you won't want to miss Burn Our Bodies Down.

I think if a whole book revolves around a central mystery, then the unraveling of that mystery has to be 5/5 in order for the book to be 5 stars. It wasn't quite that level for me, but a fun read nonetheless. The audiobook was so theatrical, in a way I really enjoyed that made it feel like I was listening to a play rather than a single narrator (despite it only being one narrator -- Lauren Ezzo == who I'm definitely going to look up after this).

The only family Margot has ever known has been her mother. The two of them face the world together, but rarely form an united front to do so. Margot raised herself and now, with her teen years soon ending, she wants to find someone less cold and less calculating. She wants to find someone more willing to welcome her with open arms and a loving heart. She wants to find her family.

Margot was a brilliant protagonist and represented everything I love to see in my characters - resilience, vulnerability, a rebellious spirit, and a relentlessly curious nature. She had me invested in her fate, equally as perplexed by the mysteries surrounding her, and ever willing to venture into the murky past to find the answers she sought.

This was a tale just as dark and mysterious as Wilder Girls. However, the first and last quarters were by far my favourites with those inbetween feeling a little repetitive in events. I really appreciated the focus on themes of generational trauma and family bonds, and how sensitively they were confronted. I also really loved the slight vein of magical realism that run throughout, and tainted all events with an added miasma of bewilderment. This presented an abundance of mysteries and I remained relentlessly interested in finding the truth. However, I longed for something other than the cycle of events that occurred for much of the novel. I concluded the book satisfied and yet still, somehow, longing for something more. More events to have occurred, more secrets to have been unearthed, and ultimately, more of the magic that so captivated me throughout.

Burn Our Bodies Down is the second book I've read by Rory Power, and I'm really wondering if she is maybe just not the author for me. Wilder Girls was enticing but the ending just left me a bit dissatisfied because I was expecting more, and Burn Our Bodies down had such potential to discuss a tense mother-daughter relationship but instead it was a slow burn story that, again, ended kind of strangely?

Also, this author has a real thing for plants.

I will say, though, that the audiobook was really well done. I really liked the narrator for it, which is a surprise to me because I often don't click with American narrators. So good job with that.

The rest of the book, though, felt very average. I think Rory Power might be better off writing adult fiction where she can really go to town with the horror elements, because Burn Our Bodies Down felt like it barely touched the surface of the true horror vibe it was going for.

As others have said, this is a tough one to review because it's definitely better that you don't know much before you go into it.

I was expecting more of a discussion about the mother-daughter relationship in this book, but unfortunately while there was a lot of that in the beginning, it kind of dropped off towards the end and left me hanging.

I would recommend giving Burn Our Bodies Down even if you didn't love Wilder Girls because the ending is nowhere near as frustrating and if you've read Wilder Girls then you're presumably ready for that kind of vibe, but a tighter storyline. Also, the main character is gay, but doesn't rush into a relationship! Love that. Overall, this book was just okay, and while I'm glad that I listened to it, I'm not sure I want to pick up any more books by Rory Power as I find her stuff quite underwhelming.