Dark Romantasy / Dark Fantasy
The Sleeping Key: A Dark Fantasy Romance (A Shroud of Nightmares, 1)
Book 1 in the A Shroud of Nightmares series · Reading order →
SpiceDarkness
- Kindle, paperback & audiobook on Amazon
- Spice & darkness rated — content warnings listed below
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Why we recommend it
A Shroud-of-Night dark fantasy romance where the sleeping key unlocks a bond neither side is ready for. Epic worldbuilding meets slow-burn tension.
At a glance
The Sleeping Key is a dark romantasy by Gemma Ashborne. It rates 3/5 for spice and 4/5 for darkness, mid-range for dark romantasy: of the 648 dark romantasy books we rate, 34% score lower for darkness and 8% lower for spice. Tropes: slow burn, forbidden romance and morally grey MC. It runs to 336 pages. We have not tagged its content warnings yet, so check the author’s notes before you start.
Book details
- Pages
- 336
- Published
- September 2026
The Sleeping Key spice level
The Sleeping Key is rated 3/5 for spice on Readark’s scale: open door, meaning explicit scenes written plainly, but not the engine of the book. Its darkness rating is 4/5: heavy, meaning sustained cruelty, trauma or non-consent central to the relationship. How we rate
The Sleeping Key content warnings
We haven’t tagged content warnings for this book yet. If you have specific triggers, check reader reviews before you start.
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