Review: Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) by Jennifer Estep

Title: Capture the Crown

Series: Gargoyle Queen #1

Previous series: Crown of Shards

Author: Jennifer Estep

Genre: Adult, high fantasy

Publication date: July 6th 2021

Published by: Harper Voyager

Source: ARC from author for review

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Synopsis: Bestselling author Jennifer Estep returns to her Crown of Shards world with an all-new trilogy and a bold new heroine who protects her kingdom from magic, murder, and mayhem by moonlighting as a spy.

Gemma Ripley has a reputation for being a pampered princess who is more interested in pretty gowns, sparkling jewelry, and other frivolous things than learning how to rule the kingdom of Andvari. But her carefully crafted persona is just an act to hide the fact that Gemma is a powerful mind magier—and a spy.

Gemma is undercover, trying to figure out who is stealing large amounts of tearstone from one of the Ripley royal mines when she encounters Prince Leonidas Morricone of Morta—her mortal enemy. Gemma tries to steer clear of the handsome prince, but when she finds herself behind enemy lines, she reluctantly joins forces with Leo. Also coming to Gemma’s aid is Grimley, her beloved gargoyle.

Despite the fact that Andvari and Morta are old, bitter enemies, a dangerous attraction sparks between Gemma and Leo. Further complicating matters is Leo’s murderous family, especially Queen Maeven Morricone, the mastermind behind the infamous Seven Spire massacre.

The closer Gemma gets to the stolen tearstone, the more deadly plots she uncovers. Everyone is trying to capture the crown, but only one queen can sit on the throne…

My rating: ★★★★★

This book was insanely good. I read this back in February, so it’s been a couple months, but even back then I knew with absolute certainty that this would definitely be one of my most favorite books of 2021! It was THAT good! I loved every second of it!

So this series is a sequel to Jennifer Estep’s previous fantasy series, Crown of Shards. It’s been a couple years since then and our main character in this book is a grown-up Gemma, who was only a child when we met her back in that series. Now, you don’t necessarily have to read that series in order to read/understand this one because Jennifer always does a fantastic job when it comes to recapping things from previous books. However, I think you should read it regardless because her books are great 😉 Lol. And I don’t know what it was about this one, but I think I loved Capture the Crown even more than I did the OG series, which is saying something! Lol. It was just great! I highly recommend it!

One reason I loved it is because of Gemma. She was very sassy, but she also had a strong sense of responsibility over her country, and I really loved that about her. I also liked that she put up this front as a ditzy princess—I thought it was hilarious! Especially because, in reality, she is very smart and actually moonlights as a spy. No one would suspect a princess 😏 I also found her powers to be very interesting. She’s a mind magier which means she has telekinesis and telepathy (among other things 😉), which is really cool... just not for her since she can’t really control her magic that well. One thing about Jennifer’s books that I love is that while these characters may have what seems like your average powers, the characters always use them in some very interesting and creative ways, and I always love seeing that! And Gemma was no different! She may not have full control of her magier magic, but she does find very creative ways to use her powers.

Another thing I enjoy about Jennifer’s books is the flashbacks! A lot of her books have this and I always enjoy the scenes because it gives you so much more understanding of the characters. In this case, the flashbacks always brought us back to what happened to Gemma right after the Seven Spires Massacre. I always did wonder what she went through after Evie saved her, so I was glad to have these scenes.

I actually went into this book not having read the synopsis because I just don’t have to with Jennifer’s books. I always know I’m going to enjoy them! All I knew was that Gemma was the main character and that she was an adult now and that she was doing some spying. That’s it. So imagine my surprise when Leonidas showed up! Which sounds dumb because he is literally mentioned right there in the synopsis 😂 I am an idiot. Lol. Anyway, back in the Crown of Shards series, we learn that Maeven (one of the bad guys) has a son, Leonidas. He was just a kid back then, and while he was the son of the enemy, he didn’t seem to be awful like everyone else in his family. Gemma had her reservations about the guy though, and not just because he is a Mortan, the mortal enemy of her country, Andvari. They have a past and it was really interesting to dive into that and find out what the heck happened. And while not-great things did happen back then, this Leo now... I love him! He was very thoughtful and sweet. And he did these little things for Gemma that caught her off guard and made me swoon 😍 It’s very surprising because of where he comes from and who his mother is. The Mortans are stereotypically thought to be just, I don’t know, evil. The now-Queen Maeven, Leo’s mother, was actually the one who orchestrated the Seven Spires Massacre and killed all of Evie’s family in the last series. So, yeah. I get why Gemma is iffy about the guy. But Leo was just the sweetest 🖤 I loved when they agreed to work together to figure out who had been stealing the tearstone and what they were gonna do with it. And seeing their relationship develop... and that sexual tension between them... it was SO good! I loved it! I am excited to see where their relationship goes after what happened in this book.

Oh and let’s talk about the action in this book, because Jennifer always delivers on that! I love it! Throughout the entire book, we got a lot of good action, but it was at the end of part one/start of part two that I remember being really giddy with excitement. Things had just gone down and Gemma just woke up to be in the not-best of circumstances. Just the idea of Gemma being in a place she's not supposed to be, undercover, made me very excited! Things could go wrong at any second! And then they did 😬 The climax... it nearly made me cry. The situation Gemma found herself in and then the repercussions of that... it was awful 😩 This whole last third of the book was really intense and I loved it! But at the same time, I really felt for Gemma, who I was really attached to at this point.

I could go on and on and on about how much I love this book, but I think this review is long as it is 😅 There is just so much I loved about this and I wish I could talk about every single thing, but I’d rather you guys read it for yourselves. It was amazing! I really loved the story, the uncovering of schemes, and all the fantastic action! I also loved the characters, especially Gemma and Leo... OMG I adore Leo! 😍 In Crown of Shards, you are shown what terrible people the Mortans are, but in this book.... Maybe they're not all so bad? At least when it comes to Leo. That was very interesting and I am excited to explore that further in the rest of the series! I cannot wait for the sequel!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊