Book Review: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girlscomes a new twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery—until she decides to return to her mother’s hometown . . . where history has a tendency to repeat itself.
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.

Title: Burn Our Bodies Down
Author: Rory Power
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: Digital
Publication Date: July 7th 2020
Goodreads//Amazon
Rating:  4.7//5

WHAT. THE. HELL.

After Wilder Girls I knew that Burn Our Bodies Down would be just as creepy, and it did not disappoint.

Our story is about Margot, a girl who feels trapped under her mother and her odd rules, her inability to buy groceries properly, her consistent arguments, and how she hides everything from her.

Margot wants to know where she comes from, why her mother is the way she is, who her family is, who her father is, who she is.

One day, Margot accidentally discovers where her mother is from, and the grandmother that she never new. As her adventure takes her to to Fairhaven and the town of Phalene, Margot learns more about where comes from then she expected, and at a cost much higher than she expected.

I absolutely adored the town of Phalene. Right away Margot meets Tess (who not gonna lie, Margot is not the only one here who had a crush on her) and Eli, and her introduction to Fairhaven is through a fire that is spreading across her grandmother’s land – and a dead girl who looks exactly like her.

Things only get weirder from there, with her grandmothers odd behaviors, the fields of corn that shine with a pinkish tint, and bleed pink when you open them up, and the fact that this has been the second mysterious fire on the FairHaven property, the first one resulting in Katherine’s disappearance. But who is Katherine? Why is the produce so odd? And who was the dead girl? And what’s up with the Apricot grove and the strange amount of frozen apricots Gram keeps in the freezer?

These questions all get answered as Margot learns more about her mothers past, her Grandmother, and the town as a whole.

This is an odd book to review because its hard to say much of anything without giving away spoilers…there’s just so much going on and so much mystery.

I absolutely love Rory Power’s writing style, and if you liked her slow reveal about what happened in Wilder Girls, you’ll absolutely love the format of Burn Our Bodies Down. It’s a slow but beautiful story, cultivating in one giant decision that can either save or destroy everyone.

Burn Our Bodies Down is out on July 7th, and this is for sure one you want to get your hands on!