Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book. In all honesty I thought I was going to love this book much more than I actually did. I thought it would be more fast paced but it was actually pretty slow. The characters were lacking something too. There were also some parts I did like. It was a fun idea in the long run just didn’t live up to my expectations.

A romantic comedy mixed with a heist sounds like the perfect combination to me, the concept was too eye-catching and innovative, unfortunately there was something in this book that didn't quite click for me. I think at times it goes on too long and is a mess with all the secondary characters and external stories going on.

Although I must also say that it reads very quickly and does have quite entertaining parts, it will depend on each person's tastes and I think it is worth giving it a chance.

I went into The Frame Up thinking that I would really enjoy it, but as always, the saying "never judge a book by it's cover" is very true. While the cover is charming and the description seemed interesting, the actual work was far less interesting than I would have hoped. The 'magic' elements were very poorly incorporated. The book didn't need magic as an unnecessary underlying force. It provides nothing interesting to the story, and it feels like the author wanted to write a heist novel, but for some reason was challenged to incorporate magic. That aside, this book is poorly written aside from the magic, as the author never learned one of the key tenets of writing: show, don't tell. Instead of explaining plot elements through carefully crafted details, the plot is mostly advanced via dialogue, and a key part of the plot is explained in a chapter-long info dump. The reader is suddenly thrown into a long and monotonous diary/journal, which is necessary reading if the reader doesn't want to be missing out on a very important plot point. The ending and overall romance arc were very unsatisfactory, for me at least. Overall, I find the writing to be dry and bland. There are some redeeming moments, however, but those are far and few between. I recommend reading the first few chapters and seeing if the writing style appeals to you, but I personally was not a fan.

Thank you to Random House and Gwenda Bond for providing me with an ARC. I was not required to write a review, and all thoughts presented in the review above are my own.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Although this was only my second read of 2024, I am confident that it will make my favorite list for this year. That's how much I loved it. An art heist, a sweet dog, and magic. Literally what more could you want.

I was initially drawn to this book because of the art heist focus (The mystery behind the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is my absolutely favorite), and this did NOT disappoint.

Dani grew up in a unique environment. Her mother and her "family" (who were truly her heist crew) were art thieves, pulling off some of the biggest heists in history. They all also have magic; each member of the heist crew has a unique ability that allowed them to pull off these complicated and extreme thefts, Dani included. With a lack of judgement and a little bit of arm twisting, Dani earns her mother a one way ticket to prison when she is a teenager, and she has been trying to make up for it ever since.

Moving forward to present day, ten years after her mother's arrest and conviction, Dani finally has the opportunity to prove her remorse for turning her mom in and free her mind of guilt. She's been hired as the head of security for a large, never before seen art collection. The only twist? She's required to pull off a heist that could cost her, quite literally, everything. Set out over ten days, Dani and her ragtag crew try to pull off the unthinkable.

The elements of the art heists and art history presented in the book are so much FUN. It's thrilling and leaves you wanting more. The magic element of the book was not one I was expecting, but one I ended up loving. It adds so much more to the characters and plot. There is a smidge of romance, but I did not find it overshadowing the big picture. It was a nice touch and definitely not the focal point of the story.

The magic and whimsy of this book reminded me of two of my favorite reads of 2023: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd and The Books of Doors by Gareth Brown (ARC, released in Feb 2024). I will be recommending this to anyone who loves art, has an interest in art heists / magic, or anyone who just wants a good, fun read.

*received a free copy for netgalley but all thoughts are my own*
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for letting me receive an ARC of The Frame-Up. I originally requested this book because of the description. I haven’t read a lot of books with this plot so I was really excited to read this. I was shocked by the magic concept but enjoyed it. I do wish there was a little more development and background for all the characters but besides that I enjoyed it.

DNF at 20%… I was expecting something different from the synopsis and cover! This didn’t hook me. I thought it was an interesting idea to read about a heist from the thief’s pov- like there would be all this exciting stuff with her assembling her crew. But I’m confused by what world they live in and how the magic works?? I’m having a hard time feeling intrigued enough to keep reading to find out about every character we’re meeting.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

<i>The Frame-Up</i> is a heist romp with a touch of magic. Dani has been roving on her own since, as a teenager, she turned her art-thief mother in to the FBI. When her mom's mysterious old partner shows up to hire her for an ambitious new job, nabbing a portrait from a veritable fortress of priceless works, Dani uneasily reconnects with her mom's old crew--and her estranged mother.

This is a fun, fast read. The scale is intimate, more cozy, nothing here on a grand world-saving scale. Dani feels very much in the mold of urban fantasy heroines, packed with bitterness and snark. The cast is diverse, especially in terms of magical abilities, though the fantasy element here is light and never examined in a bigger scope. There's also a bit of romance, but I didn't feel the vibe from those relationships.

~3.75

Hey all! So this one was a bit of a mixed bag. The prose was at times weak but I still felt very very thrilled by the heist. However I found the weakness being the romance which… to me at least did. Not. Work. But eh I think it’s worth a shot for you all if you’d like to take a look. Fun little fantasy heist.
Thanks for the arc Del Rey! Cheers!

This is an interesting premise but just wasn't my favorite book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Heist. Magic. Magic heist.
Getting the old gang back together. Hopefully.
Several witty bits. Romance. Fantasy. There is a dog! Found family.
Delivers as promised. But with twists. Delightful.
Highly Recommended for fun fantasy heist reading!

Someone once told me that mystery writers used to write a different ending for their advance reader copies, so that no one truly knows how it ends until the book is published. I did a, like, 2 minute DuckDuckGo search and found nothing indicating that this is real, or ever was real. So I dunno about that. But oh my goodness, I wish with my entire heart that when The Frame-Up is published, I will flip to the end and find that it got published with a completely different ending.

The first two thirds of this book was great. The premise is absolutely amazing - I was about halfway through and I was already writing a 5 star review in my head. That review would have started “If I had a nickel for every time this year I’ve picked up a heist-y mystery-y book and had no idea it had magic in it only to be pleasantly surprised when the characters are suddenly doing magic, I’d have two nickels.” (The other one was The Cartographers, and it counts as the same year because I finished that one on December 24th, 2022, and this one on December 23rd, 2023). But anyway, this is a book about art thieves who respect art, which is already my most favorite premise, and it’s also a book with magic (apparently), and it’s also a book about finding where you belong, and also eat the rich, and also it was even supposed to have some romance in it! So, basically, this book should have been perfect for me specifically.

The following paragraph contains spoilers but all paragraphs after are safe: Somewhere between halfway through and two-thirds through, I started to worry that this book was not going to end in a way I wanted it to. Dani left the secret world of thieves and magic, and has been spending her time using her non-magical skills to do vigilante charity work for people who’ve been wronged. At no point does the book show us that Dani misses the secret world, just that she misses her friends and family who are in it, and she maybe misses doing magic. There was even a line when Dani meets back up with Mia that, between the two of them, Dani was always the one who felt uncomfortable doing crime! And so wouldn’t the perfect ending be patching things up with her mother and friends (which did happen), but then choosing to be with the guy who wants her to be *part of a charity* with him and who uses his magic *but not for thievery*?! I had been thinking it was just a super slow-burn romance with an annoying side second love interest who would either betray her or she would just realize she doesn’t fit with him and his world anymore, and she would choose the guy who the entire first half of the book was setting up to be the endgame love interest. But instead she chooses to be with the guy who will never leave the secret world, and to go back to crime? This is literally backwards character development. All the ideals and motivations we learn about Dani in the beginning of the book are meaningless by the end. (And nevermind that the romance plot is barely there anyway.)

Maybe this is just a case of the author wanting to tell a different story than the one I wanted to read. And that’s fine. I just can’t help feeling that some of the narrative choices made simply did not make sense. I’m giving this book 3.5 because I am truly in love with the premise of this book, and the first half definitely delivered. And I really want more magic art heist stories. The last half just let me down. If I wasn’t obsessed with art heists, this might not even be a 3.

(Thank you for the e-ARC! I will be uploading my review to Goodreads and The Storygraph shortly!)

I had really high hopes for this one. It's so unique and the cover is awesome. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark and was just boring. I got halfway through and realized I had no idea what was happening and I didn't really care enough to figure it out. The magical realism element also went over my head at times because of how many characters there were that weren’t fully developed. I didn’t like the romance because I truly didn’t see the chemistry between the main characters besides their shared past.. give me more? I actually did like Dani (I think everyone’s favorite character will be her dog Sunflower) but again I just felt like the story dragged onnnn. There’s so much about Dani’s relationship with her mom, but I never really got invested in the Maria in the first place.

I was super excited for this book, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.

The premise of this book sounded intriguing, but, for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint, I just couldn’t get into it. I tried several times to give this book a fair shot but the disconnect was just too much--there was something about the story and the characters that wasn't clicking for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

First- Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC.
Secondly- I was really excited after I read the concept of this book but ended up being disappointed when I struggled with the character building and storytelling. I had to stop reading and restart several times before finally completing the book.

The Frame-Up...think Oceans 8 with a bit of magical realism sprinkled in! I enjoyed it, but I think the writing style made it difficult for me to go from liking it to LOVING it. The story itself is so intriguing...a heist, magical powers, art. But, I think the delivery made it a lot less enjoyable. I also feel that it shouldn't be advertised as a romantic comedy. It did have a very sublte romantic plot line, which is totally fine with me! But I think it should have either been cut out of the story to make more room for world-building or expanded on to make it more believable. The "love-triangle" trope also isn't my favorite, but if it's done really well, I don't mind. The Frame-Up did not have me rooting for either of the gentlemen vying for the heart of the the main character because they both felt really flat.
I wish I loved this more!

This one took me forever to get through. While the concept was unique and interesting, I never got invested in the story. The characters didn’t draw me in and the relationships lacked depth.

When i started reading this I was skeptical of the magical elements. I considered stopping because I didn't expect them and wasn't sure I should continue. However, this is a very fun heist book even for folks, like me, who aren't usually fans of books involving magical elements.

I had no idea how Dani was going to pull this heist off in the end and I was guessing right to the last second. Highly recommend!

I love a good heist movie/book so I was totally interested in this one based off the synopsis. However, it was just missing something and I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was. I do like that there was an actual art heist and that there was some double, maybe triple, crossings happening that kept it interesting and on your toes. The element of magic and their abilities could have been explored a little more but I don’t tend to read fantasy so that’s probably just a me issue and wouldn’t bother fantasy readers. I liked the tension between Dani and Elliott but I wanted more backstory between them- there was so much more that could have been said to make me believe that their connection withstood all those years apart.

Overall, I enjoyed this one maybe not as much as fantasy readers will because that’s their preferred genre. This does read really fast so if you’re looking for a shorter read this is a good place to start.


Thank you publishers and netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

The description of the book seemed interesting, so I wanted to check the story out. Unfortunately, it is not working for me right now. It is nothing against the story or the author, but I couldn't get into the story/characters. I may try and find a physical copy to add the my library when it is released, though, because I think my readers could like it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for this advanced copy! I've loved Bond's other books, and I have to say her characters shine in this new mystery! Dani and her friends are a fantastic group and their heists with the secret magic world were fantastic. I loved the twists and the way this ended up wrapping up so much. Will be recommending to lots of people in February, when it releases!