Kings of Grove Academy Books in Order

Kings of Grove Academy is one of Katie May's darkest school stories. On the surface, Grove Academy is the sort of elite place built on money, status, and old power. Underneath, it is full of violence, secret societies, cult influence, and boys the police suspect are serial killers. The heroine, Ellie, is the one person who never seems afraid of them.

That would be sweet if it were not so unsettling.

The series gets a lot of mileage out of that contrast. Ellie is gentle and trusting in ways that make the rest of the setting feel even more dangerous. The kings who circle her see themselves as her protectors, but they are not safe boys in bad circumstances. They are deeply damaged, obsessive, and fully capable of doing terrible things. The books know that, and they keep leaning into the uneasy line between devotion and menace.

The larger plot revolves around the Paragons of Prosperity, the cultlike force haunting the school and town. That threat turns the series from dark romance into full conspiracy story. Kidnappings, manipulation, ritualized power, and the use of vulnerable people all become part of the conflict. Ellie is not just caught in a love story. She is standing in the middle of something rotten that reaches much farther than the halls of the academy.

The group dynamic is what holds it together. Each of the kings brings a different shade of damage, loyalty, and violence, and Ellie has to decide what love means when the people loving you are also the people everyone else fears. That gives the romance real tension instead of making it feel decorative.

Expect a gothic-feeling academy, high emotional stakes, and a plot that keeps dragging its heroine deeper into the ugly truths the town was built to hide. If you like dark reverse harem romance with cults, secrets, and morally compromised boys who go feral over one girl, Kings of Grove Academy is very much that book.