Book Review: Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Series: Book 3 of The Spellshop

Publisher: Bramble (July 28, 2026)

Length: 369 pages

Author Information: Website

Having now read all three books by Sarah Beth Durst set in the world that began with The Spellshop, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into with Sea of Charms. Each novel follows a different protagonist and can absolutely be read as a standalone, but there are enough familiar faces and callbacks that longtime readers will appreciate the connections. In fact, we’ve met the protagonist of this book before: the seafaring adventurer and her loyal sea serpent who now take the series’ signature cozy romantasy formula out onto the open sea.

Marin makes her living as a supply runner, sailing her enchanted boat between the settlements of the Crescent Isles with Perri the sea serpent by her side. But even though she loves life on the water, she’s sailing under the twin anchors of a broken heart and a crushing debt that threatens all that her family has worked for. Not only did the man she had been engaged to betray her, but he’d also left her parents saddled with the massive loan which had been taken out to buy her boat. Determined to make things right, Marin throws herself into her work, taking on every delivery she can in the hopes of paying the money back before her family loses everything.

What she doesn’t expect is for her routine to be disrupted by a revolution in the capital. Instead of hauling cargo, Marin suddenly finds herself smuggling refugees to safety. One of them is Dax, a composer from the royal conservatory with whom she has a close friendship. To both their surprises, he takes well to life aboard her boat, asking to remain a little longer to experience the freedom of the open sea. Before long, however, Marin must return home to attend her village’s annual festival, where she’s dreading an inevitable encounter with her ex-fiancé. On a whim, she and Dax hatch up a plan where he will pretend to be her new romantic partner, which would make things a little easier to bear. But as the lines between ruse and reality begin to blur, Marin can’t help wondering if she’s playing a dangerous game. For sooner or later, Dax will have to return to the conservatory where he truly belongs, and she will have to admit he’s becoming more than just a friend.

Durst’s cozy fantasy stories always feel like a warm hug. This world in particular is full of the usual comforts like whimsical creatures, gentle humor, supportive friendships, and characters who are genuinely good people and who inevitably are awarded happy endings. That copacetic atmosphere is alive and well here, and I continue to appreciate how effortlessly these books provide that without sacrificing the overall vision of the series. Meanwhile, there are enough changes from one installment to the next to keep things from feeling completely repetitive. With Marin taking center stage, the story swaps village life for island-hopping shenanigans, magical ports, and life aboard a TARDIS-like boat. As someone who enjoys maritime settings, I appreciated the change in scenery.

That said, I also think we’ve reached a point where series fatigue is starting to set in. Sea of Charms is exactly what fans of these books have come to love and expect, which is great on the one hand, if that’s precisely what you’re looking for. Others might find the novelty has begun to wear off. The formula is still familiar in that the story has settled comfortably into the same rhythms and themes, but even the references to the people and events in those books, while fun in theory, have become so par for the course that certain stops on Marin’s journey sometimes felt less like they belonged to her and more like an opportunity to remind readers of where we’ve been before.

Marin herself was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I admired her work ethic and her devotion to her family, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with the way she she denies herself happiness, all because she believes she must carry every burden alone. Her parents, on the other hand, appear oddly carefree and indifferent to the fact their daughter is running herself ragged. I know these books are all about the low stacks, but I still need to be convinced the characters themselves view those stakes as meaningful. I understand what the author was trying for emotionally, but there were times when the drama felt more manufactured than organic, making it harder for me to fully back Marin.

In the end, Sea of Charms is another solid cozy fantasy set in one of my favorite comfort worlds. While I wasn’t quite as smitten with it as I was with The Spellshop, I still really enjoyed it, and I think you will too if you’re a fan of stories filled with kindness, found family, and sweet romance.