Verdict: Sleeping Beauty crossed with Robin Hood, run as high-heat dark fairytale — the best-rated Darva Green book on our list, ending on a cliffhanger whose second half is already published and also on Kindle Unlimited.
Best for: Readers who want a morally grey heroine, shadow magic and dragons at top-band heat, and who will borrow both halves of a duology at once.
Heat level: ★★★★★ (5/5 — no romance.io entry; billed by the author as high-heat and confirmed by readers as delicious spice)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5 — a 4.42 Goodreads average with a hard cliffhanger and a small written-review base)
Tropes: Dark fairytale retelling, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, morally grey heroine, fated mates, shadow wielding, dragons, oath and vow conflict, high heat, duology.
Of Dreams and Poison is the second entry in Darva Green’s Happily Ever After Dark series and the first half of The Dragon and The Devouring Tree, a self-published dark sapphic fairytale romance published in January 2025, in which a woman bound by an oath will do anything to get someone called Rosemary to safety, including breaking that oath to keep a different vow.
It holds a 4.42 average across 369 Goodreads ratings and just 35 written reviews, against 4.7 across roughly 274 Amazon ratings — the joint-highest Amazon rating of any Darva Green title on our Kindle Unlimited list. That is a strong reception on a small written base, and what the few reviews there are agree on is unusually consistent. Both halves of that split are worth understanding before you start.
What Is Of Dreams and Poison About?
Happily Ever After Dark is a fairytale-retelling series where each entry stands alone or forms half of a duology, and this one is explicitly the first part of a two-book story. The pitch is a collision of two source texts — Sleeping Beauty meets Robin Hood — which means a cursed sleeper on one side and an outlaw with a code on the other, and the code is what drives the plot.
Green writes at the dark, high-heat end of fairytale romance. The protagonist is morally grey rather than reluctantly heroic, the magic runs on shadow, and there are dragons. The narrator’s own framing is the clearest statement of the stakes: she will do anything to get Rosemary to safety even if there is no happy ending in it for her, and the question she keeps asking is whether an oath can be broken in order to uphold a vow.
What Makes This Dark Sapphic Fairytale Work
- The trope stack: A reader lists it approvingly — morally grey lead, fated mates, shadow wielding, dragons, delicious spice, and sapphic. This book knows what its audience came for.
- Two fairytales, not one: Sleeping Beauty supplies the curse, Robin Hood supplies the moral bind. The combination gives the plot somewhere to go that neither source would alone.
- Pacing designed for a duology: A reviewer notes that because this is a duology the pacing is perfect — the book is not padding toward a sequel, it is half of a story.
- Heat: Billed as high-heat by the author and confirmed by readers without dissent.
- The second half exists: Of Thorns and Wings is published, rates 4.7 on Amazon across 169 ratings, and is also on Kindle Unlimited.
Book Synopsis
It was always meant to be a tale of the dragon and the devouring tree. That is how the book announces itself, and it is a fair warning: this is a story that knows it is a story, built out of two fairytales that were never designed to sit together.
Rosemary is the sleeper. Around her is a curse, and around that is a situation nobody in it chose. The woman telling the story is not the one under the spell — she is the one who has sworn something, to someone, about something, and who now finds that keeping the oath and protecting Rosemary have become incompatible propositions.
What she is prepared to do about that is the whole book. She will get Rosemary to safety even if there is no happy ending waiting for her at the end of it, which is a promise the narrative takes seriously rather than as romantic hyperbole. Around them: shadow magic, a dragon, an outlaw’s moral code applied to a fairytale world, and a set of obligations that cannot all be honoured. The question is not whether she loves Rosemary. It is whether an oath can be broken in the service of a vow, and what it costs a morally grey woman to find out.
My Review
The premise is the most efficient thing on this list. Sleeping Beauty meets Robin Hood is a five-word pitch that tells you the shape of the entire book: a curse that needs breaking, and a protagonist whose defining trait is that she has principles she cannot all keep at once. Fairytale retellings usually pick one source and decorate it; combining two that pull in different directions gives Green a structural engine rather than an aesthetic.
What readers respond to is the trope density, and they are cheerfully unembarrassed about it. One review reads like a checklist — morally grey main character, fated mates, shadow wielding, dragons, delicious spice, and sapphic — and that is an accurate description of the offer. This is not a book trying to transcend its genre. It is a book delivering an unusually complete version of it, which is why the Amazon rating sits at 4.7.
The oath-versus-vow question is what lifts it above the checklist. A protagonist who will save someone knowing there is no happy ending in it for her is a real dramatic position, and it gives the shadow magic and the dragons something to be about. Green has written four books on our Kindle Unlimited list and this is the one where the moral machinery is doing the most work.
What has to be flagged clearly is the ending, and the reviews do it for me. The most useful review opens with it as a first note: this ends on a cliffhanger. The same reader adds the important qualification — because this is a duology, the pacing is perfect — and then the detail that matters most: they did not go into it knowing it was a duology. That is the failure here, and it is a packaging failure rather than a writing one. Another reviewer says they were scared to read the ending and feral to know more. Waiting was the experience for early readers; it does not have to be yours.
My honest note: A dense, confident dark fairytale with a genuine moral bind at the centre. Borrow it and Of Thorns and Wings together and the one real complaint against it disappears.
| Element | In Of Dreams and Poison |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | An oath-bound, morally grey protagonist and Rosemary, the woman she will ruin herself to protect |
| Core tropes | Dark fairytale retelling, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, morally grey heroine, fated mates, shadow wielding |
| Setting | The Happily Ever After Dark world — fairytale retellings with dragons and shadow magic |
| Heat level | 5/5 — no romance.io entry; billed as high-heat and confirmed by readers |
| Series | Happily Ever After Dark #2, and part 1 of The Dragon and The Devouring Tree — hard cliffhanger; part 2 is published and on KU |
| Content notes | Explicit sexual content, 18+ throughout, violence, curses, morally compromised choices, peril |
How Dark and Spicy Is Of Dreams and Poison?
A 5/5. romance.io has no entry for this title, so there is no catalogued band — but the author bills it as high-heat sapphic dark fairytale and marks it as containing elements fit for an 18+ audience, and readers confirm without dissent, one describing delicious spice as part of the reason the book works. Green writes at the explicit end consistently across her catalogue and this is no exception.
The darkness is fairytale-dark rather than grimdark: curses, moral compromise and real consequences, but not the sustained cruelty of the vampire end of this list. For the same author at comparable heat and greater length, Of Tides and Snow is the other Happily Ever After Dark book on our list, and She Came for Blood runs her monster-romance world at 5/5.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want fairytale retellings with actual teeth, you like a heroine bound by incompatible obligations, shadow magic and dragons are a draw, and you will borrow both halves at once.
You may want to skip it if: you want a complete story in one book and will not read part two, you dislike fated mates, you need the romance to be gentle, or trope-dense romantasy feels like a checklist to you.
In short: a well-built dark fairytale that is genuinely half a book, with the other half already waiting.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (August 2026)
Darva Green has the most books of any author on our Kindle Unlimited list — four — and the discourse pattern is the same across all of them: high ratings, fast accumulation, very few written reviews. This one has 369 Goodreads ratings against just 35 written reviews, which is under one in ten and the second-lowest engagement rate we have covered. There is no trade coverage, no Reddit footprint and no audiobook on Libro.fm. What there is is a readership that moves through her catalogue in bulk — one reviewer reports consuming five Darva Green books in a single week and rating every one of them five stars, which is a useful description of how this author is actually read.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The trope density, named as a virtue rather than apologised for. One reader lists what the book delivers — morally grey main character, fated mates, shadow wielding, dragons, delicious spice, and sapphic — and the enthusiasm is for getting all of it at once. Second, the retelling premise: Sleeping Beauty meets Robin Hood is quoted back approvingly, and readers who came for fairytale retellings report it satisfying that specifically. Third, the pacing, with a reviewer noting that because this is a duology the pacing is perfect — the book is not stretched, it is half of something. Fourth, the emotional pull of the ending, described by one reader as being scared to read it and completely feral to know more.
What readers argue about and complain about: The cliffhanger, and specifically not being warned about it. The most useful review opens with it as a first note, then makes the sharper observation: they did not go into this knowing it was a duology. That is the real complaint — not that the book ends unresolved, but that nothing on the cover told them it would. There is one 1.5-star rating with no accompanying text, which cannot be interpreted. Beyond that there is no dominant negative theme, and with 35 written reviews there is not enough material to construct one honestly. Treat the 4.42 as real and lightly evidenced.
The series question everyone should ask first: This is part one of two and it ends hard. The good news is that Of Thorns and Wings — part two of The Dragon and The Devouring Tree — is published, holds 4.7 on Amazon across 169 ratings, and is also on Kindle Unlimited, so the complete story costs two borrow slots and no waiting. That puts this in the better half of our list: of the books here that end on cliffhangers, only this one and Her Shadow so Dark and Lovely have their conclusions already available. Borrow both at once and the single recurring complaint against this book does not apply to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Of Dreams and Poison end on a cliffhanger?
Yes, and hard. It is part one of The Dragon and The Devouring Tree. The good news is that part two, Of Thorns and Wings, is already published, rates 4.7 on Amazon and is also on Kindle Unlimited — so borrow both at once.
What fairytales is Of Dreams and Poison based on?
Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood. The curse comes from one and the moral bind — an oath that cannot be kept alongside a vow — comes from the other, which is what gives the plot its engine.
How spicy is Of Dreams and Poison?
A 5/5. There is no romance.io entry, but Darva Green bills it as high-heat sapphic dark fairytale and marks it 18+, and readers confirm without dissent.
Do I need to read the Happily Ever After Dark books in order?
No. The series collects dark fairytale retellings where each story is either a standalone or part of a duology. This one is half of a duology, but it does not require the earlier book, Of Tides and Snow.
Is Of Dreams and Poison on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes, and so is its sequel. It carried the Kindle Unlimited badge on its Amazon listing when we checked in August 2026. Availability changes without notice, so confirm the badge before you borrow.
Is there an audiobook of Of Dreams and Poison?
No. We found no audio edition and it is not stocked on Libro.fm, which is consistent across Darva Green’s catalogue.
If You Loved Of Dreams and Poison, Read These Next
Three land closest. Of Tides and Snow is the other Happily Ever After Dark entry on our list — same author, same fairytale-retelling frame, pirate captain instead of a dragon. Her Shadow so Dark and Lovely by Elsie Hawthorne is the other dark romantasy here whose cliffhanger already has its answer published. And Unbound by Midnight by Amanda Austen is the lighter fairytale option if the darkness is what gives you pause. For more in the same band, browse our sapphic romantasy on Kindle Unlimited guide or the full run of book reviews.
The Bottom Line
Of Dreams and Poison welds Sleeping Beauty to Robin Hood and gets a genuine moral engine out of it — a protagonist who can keep her oath or save the woman she loves, not both. The trope stack is dense and delivered without embarrassment, the heat is top-band, the shadow magic and dragons do what readers came for, and the pacing is right because the book knows it is half of a story. Against that: it ends hard, nothing on the cover warns you it is a duology, and 35 written reviews is a thin base for a 4.42 average. Worth borrowing — with part two in the same session. Check Of Dreams and Poison on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Of Dreams and Poison ranks as a dense, well-engineered indie dark fairytale — morally interesting and generous with its tropes, held back by an unsignposted cliffhanger, and best approached as the first half of a duology you borrow whole.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ 4.42 average across 369 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 4.7 on Amazon across roughly 274 ratings
- ✓ Two fairytales combined into a real moral bind
- ✓ Hard cliffhanger with no packaging warning
Romance ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Oath-versus-vow gives the love real cost
- ✓ Fated mates delivered as promised
- ✓ Protagonist accepts no happy ending for herself
- ✓ Resolution belongs entirely to part two
Characters ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Morally grey lead with incompatible obligations
- ✓ Rosemary functions as more than a sleeper
- ✓ Choices carry genuine consequence
- ✓ Only 35 reviews to corroborate depth
Writing ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ Pacing called perfect for a duology
- ✓ Five-word premise carries the structure
- ✓ No padding toward the sequel
- ✓ Small written base limits confidence
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.3/5
- ✓ Readers report being scared to reach the end
- ✓ Self-sacrificial promise taken seriously
- ✓ Ending drove immediate demand for part two
- ✓ Emotional payoff deferred by design
Heat Level ★★★★★ 5/5
- ✓ Billed as high-heat by the author
- ✓ Marked 18+ throughout
- ✓ Delicious spice, per readers, without dissent
- ✓ No romance.io entry to corroborate a band
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Hard cliffhanger confirmed by readers
- ✓ Part two published and also on Kindle Unlimited
- ✓ Duology structure makes the break deliberate
- ✓ Nothing on the cover signals it is half a story
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Duology invites a reread before part two
- ✓ Trope density rewards a second pass
- ✓ Kindle Unlimited makes re-borrowing free
- ✓ No audio edition for a second format
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