I was intrigued by the premise and the unique job. The cover is exceptionally adorable. But once I got to reading it, it kinda sloughed on. It was fun in some part but others I was wishing it was the end. The estranged mother thing really was pushed hard and often. The magical realism and the characters could have been fleshed out more, there were many characters. I feel that i would better understood it better.

I loved this book so much. The cover was wonderful and I love the heist aspect thrown in with the romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for providing me this Digital Advanced Readers Copy of the book!

This was a race read. It was a unique twist on a thief romance. I enjoyed the plotting and the cunning that all the characters had. I also found that the characters were just hilarious an awkward and also just tell each other so well. I thought the world had great development, and that the storylines all match together well as well.

I was really excited for this book and went into this looking for a light escapist read and I am happy to say that I think that made a big difference. This has a cute and original blend of magic and heist that had me chuckling. I think this is the key to enjoying this book. Just fall into the story and let it take you away. Suspend belief and disbelief and enjoy this the way you would the 1990s Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

If you are looking for a great read while at Little League or a quick read to help you get out of your day to day, then this is a perfect read.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group & Ballantine Del Rey for the copy that I read. The opinions and thoughts above are my own.

The premise drew me in but the actual story made me rushing to the end just to be done with the book. I didn’t hate it just didn’t love it

This was a fun slightly magical book which will likely appeal to reads that like heist books as well as readers who like low fantasy.

It took me a long time to get through this book. Months. It started of so, so slow. I did trdge through the first part. I was a little blindsided by the magic system because it didn't make a lot of sense. I love magical realism but when it makes sense. This was more a magic of convenience system.
The chemistry between Dani and Elliott had so much potential. It was there the first time they saw each other the first time, but after that it was meh. The chemistry between Brad and Dani was lacking as well other. The chemistry was a tell not show situation.
The actual heist could have been so much better. The obstacles that kept popping up felt so unnecessary. The night of the heist was confusing as all get out.
There were too many side characters, and because of that character development wasn't great.

I wanted to love this book, but I walked away from it just liking it instead. It's about a 3.5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond as I’m a sucker for a good heist. I would say this story was just okay. It wasn’t bad or good but it did drag along in pace and took me several days to finally finish.

If you want a so so heist story involving art and magical realism, this may be for you.

Like most reviewers, I had high hopes for this one. I love an art crime but this fell so flat for me that I DNF'd at 16%.

It's a heist story with magic.

Gwenda Bond admits, in the afterword, that heist stories are surprisingly hard to write. She does OK in this, her first attempt, but it isn't perfect. Maybe some more detailed story boarding would help.

The essence of a heist story or film is the elaborate setup. Films spend ages on it. The most famous heist-style film, although it isn't really a heist, is "Home Alone". The whole film is the setup with only the last few minutes of action. Here we have setup, but I found the characters confusing and their relationship to the heist logistics murky. It's OK to have characters whose loyalties are suspect, but again, I didn't have a clear notion of who all these people are so it was hard to ascribe motivations to them.

Overall the book's easy to read and enjoyable.

Fun read. A spin on the classic heist trope which made it pretty original and interesting. But the pacing for the story just felt so slow and draggy. Overall, good book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not finish this book. The cover is cute and the synopsis is interesting, but I struggled to get into the story. I read about 20% before deciding to DNF.

The Frame-up takes a fun magical twist on a classic heist book. The magic of the world is fun and was a great way for Bond to spice up the heist genre and make it her own. the book starts slow, like really slow, but once we hit the twist in the heist planning about halfway through Bond really steps on the gas.
There is a love triangle and it's honestly not my favorite part of the book. It could have probably done with a little more focus to make me care about the two options. I guess Dani the main character had too much else to focus on. Which is fair I also would care more about a heist than a man.
The highlight of the book for me is the dog Sunflower, she is very much a good girl.

Gwenda Bond has really created a great little niche of fun romance books without too much spice for readers who don't want a lot of bedroom scenes. These would be great for new/young adults as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was the first book from this new-to-me author. It was a fun, interesting read, although sometimes it seemed to drag with all the baggage of things that happened before that you didn't understand. I thought the ending was fitting and interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it.

This novel featured an interesting and original concept--the overlap of magical abilities and high-end art heists, but I would have liked to have known more about the magic world and the characters abilities. Additionally, for an art-heist story, it just wasn't that suspenseful.

An art caper with a ragtag group of quirky characters? Sign me up. The ✨supernatural✨ elements and love triangle were a fun bonus.

Bond is a solid writer, and her books cover a lot of territory. I love the romance/supernatural/heist mix here; it makes for a fun story, and I think Bond mostly gets the ratio right (although I would have actually loved it if the romance was ramped up a bit more). The villian annoyed me (just because he represents one of my least favorite types of supernatural entities -- that's a personal preference thing, not something Bond missteps on). The book is a quick read, and I enjoyed it. Love the Kentucky setting; I kept picturing everything taking place at the castle located between Lexington and Versailles. I HATE that the cover tries to fit in with the current romance shelf aesthetic -- it just doesn't match the tone of the book and feels a bit misleading.