I am a big fan of heist stories. This was great and it had a magic twist. Would love a sequel with the team.

The Frame-Up interested me as soon as I saw its synopsis; an art heist involving magic. I went into this book with really high hopes, and I expected something similar to Ocean’s 8.

I was initially very drawn to the cover of this book. I really liked the different colors, and it felt visually satisfying. I read the description and thought it was something that I would really like reading.

The first couple of chapters in The Frame-Up had me hooked. I wanted to see where the story was going to go, and I was starting to build interest in the characters. The first few chapters gave me the vibes of Vigilante Sh*t by Taylor swift, and I loved it. After the first two-three chapters, I began to lose interest.

I felt as though there were a lot of different characters, and they were not described well. For example, ‘Gawky kid Elliot had matured into the hot, quiet type.’ I felt as though a lot of the character descriptions and conversations were very surface level and didn’t help to paint a mental image of what was happening within this story.

Throughout this book, however, there were several quotes that stuck out to me and I really liked them. I highlighted them on my Kindle along with writing them down in my physical book journal. My favorite from the entire book was, ‘Archer’s portrait called to her like a siren to a doomed sailor’.

While this book will not make it into my top list of favorites for this year, I think that it will be enjoyable for an audience who enjoy technical descriptions of art and those who like crime/fantasy books with a touch of magical realism.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"The Frame-Up" is the story of Dani Poissant, a con artist who is the daughter and former accomplice of the world's most famous art thief, Maria Poissant. The secret to their success was a little thing called magic, unbeknownst to the non-magical world. Maria and her crew were unstoppable, until Dani turned her mother over to the FBI. Ten years later, Maria is still in federal prison and still not speaking to Dani. When Dani is approached for the job of a lifetime that only Maria and her crew could pull off, she hopes to reconcile with her mom and the old gang, including her former best friend and childhood love. But even with their magical talents, the heist is an impossible task. She only has a week to pull off an art theft that would typically take a year to plan. The more Dani learns about the job, the more she realizes how much is really at stake.

When I first saw the cover of this book and read the description, I wanted to read it immediately. I was hooked from the first chapter, but the rest of the book was a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I did like it. It had a little bit of something for everyone: art heist, magical realism, supernatural, second-chance romance, love triangle, and family drama. But I think I would have enjoyed it more if there was more about the heist and less about the magic. Given how much the first chapter grabbed my attention, I also would have liked to read more about Dani's work as a con artist for the past ten years. I really liked Dani as a main character, and her dog Sunflower (named after the van Gogh painting) stole the show. There were a few twists that took me by surprise and kept me reading to find out what happened next. The ending opened the door for a possible sequel, which I would definitely read.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Shannon McManus. Her storytelling was engaging, and she did a great job building suspense. She handled the various ages, genders, and accents well, and I was easily able to tell the characters apart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book did not work for me. I was interested in the premise of an art heist with magical realism, but it needed both more art heisting and more magical realism. Just saying the word magic does not create the believable world of magic. Both the plot (action specifically) and the character development need more work to be engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I stopped reading at 25%. The plot wasn't interesting enough to distract from the poor writing quality.

After betraying her famous art thief mother to the FBI ten years ago, she iscontacted by her mother's partner
Archer to steal a painting for him. In return, she will get the chance to reconnect with her mother and the
deed to a house that was the only home she knew. In order to steal the painting, Dani will need the help
of her mother's gang. She has a short amount of time to set evrything up, along with the FBI and other
thieves watching her, Dani also wants to understand why the painting is so important and how her family
is connected. Why does Archer have such a strong hold over her mother? Why does Dani find the painting
so disturbing? Will the heist go on as planned? Interesting heist story.
#TheFrameUp #NetGalley

I requested this book due to the really interesting premise. It was very much a realistic fantasy, which tend to be my favorites. Unfortunately, though, this book really drug for me. The plot just always seemed to be going too slow for what was happening up until the very end.

Dani and her mom's relationship wasn't ever flushed out enough, nor was hers with Elliot. All we ever get is that he was her childhood love and he didn't come with her when she left. Nothing else. Mia and Liz also had a really flat relationship for me, although I did like them a little bit better, personally.

I did really enjoy the last 10% of the book, but again, there was no redeeming quality to Maria. The only hesitation was that it was Dani's mom, but there was no other kindness behind that. The actual heist was really interesting, and the twist in the end was pretty decent.

Overall, I'm really sad to say this book was a let down for me. After reading another heist book recently and really loving it, this was just fell flat in comparison.

Thank you Netgalley and Del Ray for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair review!

I love the concept of this book but the execution left it lacking.

I think the idea of magic and the criminal underworld is a great idea and I think that the outline of this book is great. But in reading it, the writing was a bit clunky and the worldbuilding isn't seamless and I think could be better done. There is just a lot of showing rather than telling which makes a slow-ramp up feel even slower. To me this book just felt like a series of almosts - I felt like I kept expecting more than I got. I feel like a lot of this would have been improved with some more editing because the basics are there, I just got disappointed with the execution.

After reading the synopsis of this one, I was really looking forward to it, but I ended up DNF'ing at around 30%. I found the book to be extremely slow-paced, the magic element not worked into the plot very well, the heist not very interesting, and the characters very flat. This didn't hold my attention enough to continue reading, which was disappointing.

Not my favorite, I liked the story overall and enjoyed the read but I don’t think I’ll recommend it heavily

The Frame Up by Gwenda Bond
Rating: 3 stars
Pub date: 2/13

The Frame Up by Gwenda Bond has a fun premise that I was immediately drawn to. A once-in-a-lifetime magical heist with an estranged mother and daughter, a mysterious business partner, and a second chance romance? Count me in! And while this turned out to be a fun read, I was disappointed with the outcome.

"The Frame-Up" by Gwenda Bond is a captivating tale of magic, heists, and reconciliation. Dani Poissant is a magically gifted con artist who embarks on a near-impossible heist to earn back the respect of her incarcerated mother and their estranged crew. The concept promises a blend of magic, history, and suspense, which it delivers on.

However, the execution falls short. There are too many underdeveloped aspects, from the worldbuilding to the characters and the romance. I wanted more depth and richness in the characters' motives and magical world because I felt I couldn't connect with Dani. Flashbacks to past heists could have helped this instead of being solely at the end.

The creative storytelling and magical elements created an intriguing atmosphere. Despite its flaws, I enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, Dani's internal struggles, and the mysteries surrounding her mother's partner.

Read if you like:
*magic
*Oceans 11
*complicated family dynamics
*found family
*suspense

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Del Rey for my digital and finished copies.

I love a heist book and this one sounded promising. Unfortunately it fell flat for me. I thought the writing was fine but I was bored for most of this book. I love the cover!

3.5 stars

The nitty-gritty: Magic, art forgery and heists make up the plot of Gwenda Bond's latest, a fun mash-up with mixed results.

I ended up having a lot of fun with The Frame-Up, despite a few issues with pacing and some of the world building elements. Gwenda Bond has written a magical heist story with a few unexpected surprises, and while it’s heavier on heist and lighter on magic, I ended up enjoying most of it.

Danielle Poissant comes from a family of art thieves, and is in fact one herself. She’s also a master forger, having learned from a young age how to copy famous paintings. Her replicas always fool even the most trained eye due to the fact that she uses a sort of “persuasion” magic in her art that makes people believe they are looking at the real thing.

But ten years ago everything changed when Dani agreed to help an FBI agent catch her mother during one such heist. Maria Poissant went to jail, and Dani was shunned by the rest of the crew—Rabbit, Mia and Elliott—when she betrayed her mother. None of them has spoken to her since then, until Dani is approached by a man named Archer, who wants to enlist her help stealing a painting from a highly secure private collection, a collection that’s about to hit the auction block. Dani knows she can’t pull off such a complex heist on her own, so she decides to ask her old friends for help.

Rabbit, Mia and Elliott reluctantly agree to help steal the painting, but Dani soon realizes this job is going to be much harder and more dangerous that she first thought. For one thing, there’s Archer, who used to be Maria’s partner (awkward). And when Dani sees the painting she’s supposed to steal, she’s shocked to discover it’s a portrait of Archer himself. Not only that, but it seems to be imbued with powerful magic, connected in odd ways to the rest of the collection. Why does Archer want the painting so badly? What’s Maria’s involvement? And can she trust her crew? The clock is ticking—Dani has only nine days to plan and pull off the heist.

So that’s the gist of the story, although there is a lot more going on, maybe too much. One reason I didn’t rate this higher is that the first half of the book comes across as scattered, with too many side plots, too many characters, and not enough focus on what’s really important: planning the heist, and how Archer fits into the story. One side plot in particular was completely unnecessary, in my opinion, where someone tries to steal a different painting from the collection right before the auction. Bond has a lot to cover in that first half, though, which may be why it felt so slow. She’s laying out her magical world building, giving us the backstory on how Maria ended up in jail, and introducing a bunch of characters. There’s also a romance side plot involving Dani, Elliott and Brad Hackworth (who just inherited his dad’s valuable art collection and is the one holding the auction). The romance was almost a throwaway, though, and I’m wondering if the story would have been better without it (although based on the cover, the publisher is probably trying to market this as fantasy romance). Still, if you’re here for the romance, I doubt this book will scratch that itch.

Some of my favorite elements weren’t explored enough for my taste and I just wanted more. For example, the magic. Bond doesn’t go too deep with her explanations, and the characters’ magic abilities seem all over the place. Dani can “influence” what people see through her art (which is a cool idea!). Rabbit is good with electronics and can turn surveillance cameras on and off and some other techy stuff. Mia doesn’t have magic at all. And then there’s the art collection, which has it’s own strong magic, the purpose of which is never really explained. I also loved the scenes that show Dani painting her forgeries and the process of planning a heist (they basically switch the forgery with the real painting). Many of these scenes gave me an Ocean’s Eleven vibe and were very well done, but they were often buried under unnecessary filler. I have to give a shout out to my favorite underutilized character in the story, Dani’s border collie Sunflower (named after the Van Gogh painting!), who is hyper trained and a very good dog, but unfortunately feels more like a prop that anything else.

But now for the good stuff. Once we find out who (or what) Archer actually is, the story really takes off, and the second half of The Frame-Up delivers big time. Dani ends up finding an old journal written by a great-great ancestor that explains Archer’s true nature and how he’s connected to the portrait of himself—and therefore, why he wants it so badly. I loved these epistolary sections, written in 1894 by a French woman named Maeve, and I sort of wish they had been a more central part of the story. Dani has an interesting connection to Maeve, and honestly, I would have loved to know Maeve better, she was such a fascinating character. The final scenes involving the heist and what happens to Archer were both funny and thrilling and definitely worth the price of admission. And despite some of the earlier confusion and the odd love triangle with Dani, Brad and Elliott, I loved the way Bond resolved all her different plot points. I don’t think this is the start to a series, but who knows? There’s enough material for an interesting sequel, in my opinion, and yes, I’d definitely read it.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I was SO excited for this book- I’ve never heard of anything like it when I saw the blurb, and actually took a few days to read it, to make sure I gave it enough of a chance.

I’m sad because the book didn’t come through the way I expected it to - the side characters felt flat, I didn’t see the lore or the mystery behind them and why they wanted Dani to be in on the heist so bad. The romance honestly felt like more lust than romance, and I didn’t want to keep reading and reading - it didn’t hold my attention. I DID love Dani’s personality and of course, Sunflower!.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
All thoughts and opinions are my own

Dani is a magically inclined grifter who is hired to steal a painting by her mother's former partner. This involves getting the old gang back together.

This book was a solid heist, urban fantasy book. The plot moved smoothly with some interesting side characters along the way. But, I did have a hard time connecting to the character and found the romance to be lacking a bit. However, this book will definitely find its audience, especially with urban fantasy fans who love characters with magic.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy.

Original Read Date: 01/04/24-02/04/24
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Steam: 🔥
Tropes: heist, magic, coming home again
POV: third person, single pov

I received a Netgalley ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Plot: a little boring at first, but good overall
Ending: climactic, but expected

Synopsis: Years after Dani turned her criminal mother in to the authorities, she's approached by her mother's former partner with a job offer that's too good to pass up. Now, Dani must reunite with her mother's old crew to get the job done, however that's easier said than done.

My opinion:

Pros: The magical element to the story was really fun. It gives the typical heist storyline a different angle and allows for the suspension of reality. Around the 3 days out part in the book really turned things on its head. All of a sudden there was intrigue and mystery. Much more than there has been already.

Cons: While this book was a fun read, it didn't hold my attention as much as I'd have liked. At times, I was easily distracted and pulled out of the story. It until 65% into the book that I felt a real draw to keep reading. I typically wouldn't continue that long in a book I wasn't fully enjoying, but I wanted to like this book so I kept going. Dani's mother was my least favorite character.

DNF at 15%. Started reading it because of the comp to Portrait of a Thief, but found that the tone in the first five chapters was inconsistent and the world-building was too light for my taste. Chalking it up to just not being my taste.

This book was fun! I don’t really know that it’s a romance book which is what I was expecting. The concept of the book sounded interesting but it fell flat for me. The magic and heist were my favorite parts, along with the doggo!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the arc!
Pub date: 2/13/24

The heist aspects of this book are very fun, and that's definitely where the strengths of the story lie. The promised romance in this is pretty underdeveloped, but the magic elements of this add a nice touch to the story without overwhelming it. I'd be tempted to read another if this is a series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for sharing this book to be reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Before I jump into my review, the dog on the cover was in some way or another a character and I couldn’t be happier about it. This was my first heist story, and it’s safe to say I had a lot of fun. If you were a fan of the movie Lift on Netflix, this might be the book for you.

Overall, this plot was fun to follow and see play out. The found family aspect of the people involved added an element of coziness in a rather high stakes scenario of attempting to steal a coveted painting. However, I do not think this book needed to have a romance, or be labeled as a romance, because the chemistry between our two characters was not present until the last 15% of the book. I also think the magic system, while a fun take on different gifts people can have, lacked a foundation to help understand how it works, why it is there, and how certain characters had connections to it and others did not. This book is fast paced and perfect to pick up for some light reading but a very fun adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and if you’re looking to experience an art heist, I think you would too!