The Be Grove Cursed series is a captivating and emotionally resonant urban fantasy/paranormal romance series written by best-selling author L.E. Eldridge. Set in the fictional, deeply atmospheric town of Be Grove, the series weaves together elements of witchcraft, ancient curses, fated mates, and small-town secrets. The central premise revolves around a powerful curse placed upon the founding families of Be Grove, binding their fates to supernatural forces and dooming them to repeating cycles of tragedy, love, and loss.

The series is renowned for its complex characters, slow-burn romance, intricate magic system, and a central mystery that unfolds over multiple books. As of 2026, the series includes six main novels, two novellas, and a forthcoming seventh and final book.


At its core, Be Grove Cursed takes the quintessential "small town with a dark secret" trope and grafts it onto a body-horror romance. The titular town, Be Grove, appears idyllic—wisteria-choked lanes, a harvest festival, a centuries-old oak at its center. But the "Grove" isn't just a place; it's a sentient, vengeant entity.

The central curse is elegantly brutal: every resident is bound to a specific flora. Your emotions make your blossoms thrive. Your sins make your bark blister. And if you fall in love with the wrong person? The roots come for your bones.

“You don’t leave Be Grove. You take root.” — A recurring line from Book 2.

This paper argues that The Grove Cursed Series (2021–2025) revitalizes the eco-Gothic tradition by transforming the cursed forest from a passive backdrop into an active, memory-absorbing antagonist. Through close reading of the series’ four installments—Whisperroot, Thorn Harvest, Sap of the Forgotten, and The Grove Unburied—I examine how the narrative uses botanical metaphors for intergenerational trauma, where each curse cycle corresponds to a historical atrocity the town of Blackbark refuses to acknowledge. The series ultimately proposes that ecological horror is inseparable from repressed communal guilt.

One of the strongest elements of the series is the atmosphere. Be Grove feels like a character in itself. Imagine the Pacific Northwest—dense forests, constant drizzle, cozy diners, and an underlying sense that the woods are watching you.

The "Cursed" aspect of the title isn't just for show. The town has a dark history, and the series does an excellent job of weaving folklore and mystery into the romance. You aren't just reading about two people falling in love; you are reading about two people falling in love despite the fact that the town seems determined to tear them apart.

Because the series follows different couples, you can arguably jump in anywhere, but reading in order is recommended to fully understand the town's lore.

For newcomers, the chronology of the Be Grove Cursed Series is crucial. The author uses a non-linear timeline with prequel novellas that enrich the main plot.

Here is the recommended reading order:

Unlike traditional haunted locations (houses, asylums, cemeteries), the grove in the series operates as a living archive. Its curse does not stem from a single malevolent entity but from a process: every seven years, the forest “reaps” a child born under the eclipse moon, grafting their memories onto its root system. The paper begins by situating the series within the eco-Gothic lineage (e.g., Machen’s “The White People,” Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows,” and more recently The Ritual and Annihilation).

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