Title: Burn Our Bodies Down

Author: Rory Power

Publisher: Delacorte Press 2020

Genre: Young Adult Horror

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Theme - June

Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother, struggling to get along. But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she may have just found the answer: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Only, when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for.

As soon as they see her face, everyone in town knows who Margot belongs to. It's unmistakable--she's a Nielsen. And when a mysterious girl who could be Margot's twin is pulled from a fire, Margot realizes that her mother left Phalene 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.

I was so incredibly excited for this book. I absolutely loved Wilder Girls and hoped that this would be another great horror novel. Instead, this book just dragged and dragged with whiny characters and no real direction. I was thoroughly bored for the first 70% of the book. I could not connect at all with Margot and really despised her mother. Even after showing up in Phalene, I was completely bored. The entire relationship, or non-relationship, between Margot and Tess was completely thrown in for no real reason. I just didn’t get it. And then we get to the last section of the book and everything went weird, but not in a good way. I love good gore horror, but this just seemed like a giant punch in the gut. Nothing was nuanced or interesting. The book ended and I just didn’t really care.

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