Cover Image: Murder Grove

Murder Grove

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Member Reviews

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

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Murder Grove appears to be a novel about population growth and sustainable living, but it is more a psychological thriller about adults who remain impacted by their relationships with their mothers. Rich and Mia, who have been in a relationship for 13 years, move from London to a small Spanish village where Rich has inherited his mothers villa. Rich's mother was a popular movie actor who died from alcohol abuse; Mia, as a six-year-old, witnessed her mother's rape and murder. The novel details Rich and Mia's imperfect relationship and how they gaslight each other to hide their own imperfections.

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Blurb:
In 1990, within the deceptively peaceful woods of her Sussex neighborhood, Mia witnesses the brutal murder of her mother and wakes up in a shallow grave. A man confesses to the murder and later dies in prison, but Mia never comes to terms with her mother’s death

After another brush with tragedy in 2021, Mia and her boyfriend Rich move from London to a small Spanish village where they can begin a new life. At first, Val Verde seems to be everything they could wish for. But when a body is found in the olive grove outside of town, they realize that their would-be safe haven harbors a terrible secret. Will they discover the deadly root of evil before it’s too late?

Opinions:

Another book whose title was the first thing to suck me in. I picked this up once and had to put it down, I wasn't in the mood for it, I'm glad I took a bit of a break, because when I came back to it, I loved it!

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Murder Grove...

If that's not a title that sends shivers down your spine, I don't know what will.

I have been on a hot streak when it comes to choosing the perfect thriller to fit my mood. Now, my moods tend to shift from dark, darker and darkest... you get the hint?

I was longing for a book that would consume my attention and transport me straight into the pages held up by the spine. Well, I was in luck, Murder Grove, delivers.

This was not my first book by E.V. Adamson, I had read and loved Five Strangers last year and knew that I would be waiting eagerly for the next book to drop.

Murder Grove, superseded all of my expectations. I was never bored or looking to put the book down, I was eager to continue on and read this book in one sitting. Murder Grove is jam packed with suspense, deceit and unreliable characters.

This book is going to be a hit amongst thrill lovers.

Here is a little teaser to get your pulse racing :

Death seems to follow her: two murders, three decades apart…


In 1990, within the deceptively peaceful woods of her Sussex neighborhood, Mia witnesses the brutal murder of her mother and wakes up in a shallow grave. A man confesses to the murder and later dies in prison, but Mia never comes to terms with her mother’s death.


After another brush with tragedy in 2021, Mia and her boyfriend Rich move from London to a small Spanish village where they can begin a new life. At first, Val Verde seems to be everything they could wish for. But when a body is found in the olive grove outside of town, they realize that their would-be safe haven harbors a terrible secret. Will they discover the deadly root of evil before it’s too late?

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"Murder Grove" by E.V. Adamson follows Mia and Rich who move to a small town in Spain to get away when a body is found which is quite similar to her past.

I would give "Murder Grove" by E.V. Adamson a 3-star review because, 1; the beginning was amazing 2; I liked the idea of Mia's past it was kinda like a criminal minds episode 3; I liked how it gave true facts about Spain and 4; the middle and ending was a let down for me.

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Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this early review of Murder Grove. The book immediately caught my attention by the description and felt that it was going to be a good read. Unfortunately it fell flat for me. The concept was so great but the characters were herendious. I could not connect with any of them. This book was too slow for me and needed more twists. The ending was unsatisfying. Giving two stars.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.
This was a really good book. Plenty of mystery and wondering about what was going to happen next.

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"Like other victims had said, surviving a crime was almost like a life sentence in itself, a sense of being punished for something you had not committed"

Murder Grove is the story of Mia and Rich following their move to a remote Spanish town after Mia's student commits suicide. The death of her student brought back haunting memories of witnessing the death of her mother and nearly being buried alive, so with the move, Mia and Rich are trying to start fresh with a new life. Mia instantly gets a feeling of unease in the town, but both her and Rich chalk it up to the residual effects of her trauma. Little does Mia know, Rich is cheating on her. After an intense altercation involving Anna (the other woman and Mia, Rich decides to cope by taking Ayahuasca. When he wakes up, Anna is dead, and no one know who the killer is.

I enjoyed Murder Grove, but it wasn't a mind blowing thriller. It was a typical thriller with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed Mia's character and grew to hate both Rich and Anna. Rich was a horrible, abusive human being and probably should have suffered Anna's fate.

I will say, the double twist at the end had me up in arms! I wasn't expecting the killer to be who it was and Rich and Mia's goodbye made me furious. When a book elicits a response like this from me, I can tell the author did a great job developing the characters.

I definitely want to move to a remote Spanish villa now. While it didn't work out so well for Mia and Rich, I still felt like the setting was pretty idyllic!

3/5 stars

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#FirstLine PROLOUGE Mia August - We are standing in the olive grove hoping to find traces of the dead.

I was not sure how to feel about this book. I think others will enjoy it. I know that not every book hits right at the time that you read it, but will at another time. So I am neutral on this book...would love to hear what others had to say...

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I liked the concept of the book’s description, but as I decked into the story I was not in accordance with the story.
I finished it but I was left dissatisfied. There was no resolution at the end and that bothered me.
The writing was fluid and I liked the Spanish locale but I just could not become vested in the story.
It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

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"Death seems to follow her: two murders, three decades apart...

In 1990, within the deceptively peaceful woods of her Sussex neighborhood, Mia witnesses the brutal murder of her mother and wakes up in a shallow grave. A man confesses to the murder and later dies in prison, but Mia never comes to terms with her mother's death.

After another brush with tragedy in 2021, Mia and her boyfriend Rich move from London to a small Spanish village where they can begin a new life. At first, Val Verde seems to be everything they could wish for. But when a body is found in the olive grove outside of town, they realize that their would-be safe haven harbors a terrible secret. Will they discover the deadly root of evil before it's too late?

Breathlessly paced with an atmospheric setting, Murder Grove is a twisty psychological thriller from the author of Five Strangers."

Death follows!

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Mia Banner's partner Rich Ellis inherits a house from his mother so they move from London to a seemingly idyllic eco-village in Spain. However, a murdered body is found in a nearby olive grove and there are strange similarities to an tragic event in Mia's past. The book starts off with the discovery of a body and then backtracks six months to their arrival in Spain, alternating POV's between Mia and Rich. The author does a great job describing the unique setting and I enjoyed the slow burn reveal of the mystery.

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It's all starts....and ends with a dead body.

In between: lies, a love triangle, cheating, a mysterious past, an idyllic Spanish village....sure, it should be a fantastic read! Instead I found myself slugging along, just pushing myself to finish. I didn't care about anyone or really, anything going on.


Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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I loved her title Five Strangers. So I was super pumped to see a new upcoming book by her.

"Death seems to follow her: two murders, three decades apart…"

After losing her mother in the 90s due to a callous murder Mia witnesses her mother's murder.
A man admits to the murder and later dies in prison. Mia has never fully recovered from that night.
Later in 2021, Mia and her boyfriend Rich pack up from London to a small Spanish village where hopefully they can start a new life.
Well what seems like the best place to start over soon turns into Mia's worst nightmare.
When a body is found just outside of town. Soon the couple realize this sfae place they have ran to just might hold so e horrible secerts!

Murder Grove by E. V. Adamson is a solid thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Adamson has such a way of writing that pulls the reader into the story and captivates you till you have nothing else to turn.
This was a great story, full of wild twists.
She has created tension and mystery. With characters that hook you almost immediately.
It’s one of these books that I just wanted to keep reading when I came to the end of every chapter as I was so eager to find out more and how everything was all going to end up.
The writing was really great, the thriller itself is unputdownable!
Another phenomenal read by E. V. Adamson.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Scarlet for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Thank you NetGalley, Scarlet, and E. V. Adamson for the advanced copy of Murder Grove in exchange for my honest review.

This book, unfortunately, was not really what I was expecting it to be. I was hoping for more of the storyline to focus on what happened to our main character, Mia, when she was a child, or the body that's found in the very beginning of the book.

I won't spoil but what most of the book was about was *beyond* frustrating to me. I have to give kudos to the big reveal, though, because I didn't see it coming.

I also didn't particularly love the open-ended conclusion, but I would be okay with it if there is another book to follow.

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After inheriting his mothers house. Rich and Mia decide they are going to leave London, England to move to Spain to a small eco town. Not long after moving to Spain Mia and Rich meet their neighbors and among them is Anna. Right away Mia has a bad feeling about what’s going on between Rich and Anna but she isn’t sure if her suspicions are correct.

Not long after moving Mia meets Gloria an older woman looking for her mother remains. She wants to give her mother the burial she deserves after being buried for years. Mia decided she was going to help her find her mothers remains. While Rich was going behind Mia’s back and having an affair with Anna. Mia eventually finds out the truth and ends things with Rich.

Later that night Anna shows up at Rich’s and Mia’s house and tells Mia that Rich had planned to leave her all along. Afterwards Anna leaves and Mia follows her to the olive grove they have another argument. Mia leaves Anna there and goes home.

The next morning Mia meets Gloria and the work begins to find her mother remains. The workers stop digging and call the police to tell them they found a body. But whose body did they find? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

The book was very good. I read probably 11 or 12 chapters before I stopped for the night. I was hooked. I didn’t want to stop reading. I really enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend this book. It had a great story to it and it will have you guessing who did it.

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Rich and Mia decide to move away from busy life in London after some stressful events in their lives and Rich inheriting his mother's home in Spain. The book starts with the finding of a body and jumps back six months to their arrival in Spain and all the things that lead up to a murder. This book had a very ominous feel through the whole thing. Rich was awful, and I didn't really enjoy this, although it wasn't poor writing or anything. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.

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Mia witnesses the brutal murder of her mother in 1990. She wakes up in a shallow grave. The murderer confesses and later dies in prison. Mia never can never overcome her mother's murder. Then in 2021, Mia and her boyfriend Rich to a small Spanish village to begin a new life. Val Verde was everything they hoped it would be. Then a body is found in the olive grove outside of town. They discover that their new home is harboring some deep dark secrets. 3.5 out of 5 ⭐️

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I wish I could give more stars because the premise was very promissing but this is the absolute epitome of slow burn with a bell curve, It starts and ends with dead bodies, infidelity and lies smushed between and no real action until the end. I didn't feel drawn in or captivated

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It starts and ends with a dead body. What happens between? A love triangle, a mysterious past, a lot of lies, infidelity, all with an idyllic Spanish eco-village background. Sounds enthralling, right?? I was bored for most of this book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I never got to the point where I couldn’t put it down. The main action was crammed into a few chapters near the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

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