Series: Gargoyle Queen #2
Published by HarperCollins Publication Date: May 3, 2022
Pages: 432
Also in this series: Conquer the Kingdom
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Find on: Goodreads
Bestselling author Jennifer Estep continues her Gargoyle Queen series with a highly anticipated sequel to Capture the Crown: Gemma Ripley must protect her kingdom and herself from threats of war, assassination, and a dangerous attraction that could break her reign…or her heart.
Crown princess. Clever spy. Powerful mind magier. Gemma Ripley of Andvari is all those things, but these days, she’s also extremely worried. Her problem? Figuring out how to stop an enemy’s plot to somehow use magical tearstone weapons to conquer her kingdom.
Gemma’s quest for answers leads her to a trade Summit between the various kingdoms. Among the other royals in attendance is Queen Maeven Morricone of Morta and her son, Prince Leonidas—Gemma’s charming and dangerous nemesis.
Gemma knows that Maeven always has a long game in motion, and sure enough, the cunning queen invokes an arcane tradition that threatens the fragile truce between Andvari and Morta. Despite her best intentions to keep her distance from the Morricones, Gemma once again finds herself thrown together with Leo and battling her growing feelings for the enemy prince.
When a series of deadly attacks shatters the Summit’s peaceful negotiations, Gemma realizes that someone wants to tear the royals down from their thrones—and that this enemy just might succeed . . .
I was wondering, based on how Capture the Crown ended, what was next for Gemma and Leo (because I’m convinced there is a Gemma and Leo). Jennifer Estep didn’t disappoint with the drama these two find themselves in with this latest entry into the series.
Gemma, Reiko, Dominic, and Rhea find themselves at the annual summit where all the ruling families come together once a year. Of course, nothing goes as planned and both Gemma and Reiko find themselves having to pick what is more important to them: what they want for themselves or their families. Neither of them has been good about truly going after what they want, so this is a challenge for them both. The only person who doesn’t seem to let all these decisions bother him is Leo. He’s a tool for his mother and she makes that very apparent in this book. But Leo does the one thing Gemma hasn’t been able to do…use his mother’s machinations to get what he wants. He doesn’t come out unscathed, but what he goes through does give Gemma a perspective she didn’t have before and finally helps her realize she needs to think of her happiness along with her family and people.
I enjoyed this book and I’m truly interested in seeing how a united front deals with Milo and Wexel. Someone needs to deal with him and I hope this next book gives us just that.
Shannon
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