The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond is my fourth read book by this amazing author and it was another fantastic story.
A fun action packed read from beginning to end and so hard to put down.
The plot and the characters were wonderfully entertaining and they were such fun to be with.
With the engrossing world building, and the very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic.
Overall, this is a light-hearted entertaining book.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House, Ballantine & Del Rey for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

2.5 stars rounded down

Like a lot of other reviewers, the cover and the synopsis gave me high hopes for this one. And all those hopes were dashed to bits.

This book has a pacing and tension problem. Heists are sneaky, involving a lot of sleight of hand, so it's usually a tense experience. Not only was all tension lacking, it dragged on. It was such a slog that I actually looked up the page count -- I thought it was much longer than it actually is.

There's no significant character development. No one did anything that surprised me or seemed out of character. No one is really changed at the end. The reassembling of the team, the meetings with Maria, with Arthur, everything fell flat. The romance subplot may as well not be there. It serves no real purpose and is poorly executed.

Pairing a heist plot with a magical subworld seems like a good thing. Yeah, magic might make a heist easier to pull off but it's also unpredictable and has the potential to make things way more difficult. Except we don't see any of that here.

It's missing depth in all facets. I can't see myself recommending this to anyone.

This one sounded so good, but there was something missing for me. I felt like there could’ve been more depth - especially with the magical realism parts. I struggled to get into the story and after trying a couple separate times decided to DNF.

I have always enjoyed the author’s books so was excited to received a physical arc from @delrey and audio from @prhaudio

Dani Poissant, once an accomplice to the world's most famous art thief—her mother—and a skilled forger with a magical touch, faces a dilemma. Ten years after betraying her mother to the FBI, Dani is approached by Archer, her mother's shadowy partner. He requests her help to steal a painting from the private collection of the late billionaire William Hackworth. In exchange, he promises to reconcile her with her mother and reunite her with her former gang. The challenge is immense, with only one week to plan a nearly impossible job. As Dani delves into the mission, she unravels mysteries about Archer's motives and realizes the stakes are higher than she thought. The concept was unique and the found family dynamics were good, if a little messy. The ending felt a little abrupt but I did like the little insight we received after the main event. Overall, not my favorite by the author

I was super tempted by this book for a number of reasons, the main one being that it’s a heist novel and there’s also a border collie. How could I possibly resist magic art thieves with a cute canine sidekick?
The Frame-Up follows Dani Poissant, the daughter of a notorious and now imprisoned art thief, Maria Poissant, as she takes on her first art-related job in years. After Dani turned on her mother and got her caught, the art crime scene had been but a distant memory until her mother’s old associate Archer shows up with an irresistible offer. If Dani takes on a job as a security consultant for the auction of deceased billionaire William Hackworth’s collection AND steals a particular painting, he’ll reunite her with her mother. Maria Poissant hasn’t spoken to Dani since she betrayed her and Dani wants nothing more than to patch up their relationship.
She takes the job and sets off on the arduous task of scoping out one of the biggest and most secure private art collections in the world. She’s surprised to find Hackworth’s heir is a kind, handsome fellow who seems interested in her, so the fact she’s planning to steal from him does cause a small sense of guilt. Dani also has to get her mother’s old crew back together even though they haven’t spoken to her since the betrayal AND she was kind of in love with Elliott, one of the gang. You see where this is going - love triangle.
This sounds like a really cool story, right? That’s exactly why I requested it because romance + heist sounds like an unbeatable combination, but you would be wrong. This could have been a standard, non-magical heist novel and it would have worked just fine. The addition of the magic was an unnecessary element and I say that as a lifelong fan of the fantastical. It felt smooshed in, like the magic was an afterthought to what was originally planned as a standard thriller. I do admit, the demon soul painting was a cool idea but it wasn’t revealed until near the end of the book. Did I mention that the love interests are so bland they may as well be white bread? Elliott and Brad Hackworth have absolutely nothing going for them in terms of characterization and I really couldn’t have cared less about them or the romance aspect of the book.
Overall, this book just wasn’t really to my taste. I nearly DNF’d it around the halfway point, but decided to push on through to the end because something interesting happened and I wanted to see how things turned out. Unfortunately, I expected to like this far more than I did. I was also really annoyed by the fact that Dani was abandoned for years by people who were supposed to be almost family to her and her first thought is to forgive and accept them back into her life. And she even let her awful mother escape scott free at the end!

DNF at 20%

I just could not get invested in this one. I thought the premise sounded really interesting so I submitted the ARC request, but I feel pretty let down. I wasn’t invested in any of the characters at all. Every relationship felt superficial and disjointed. Some things needed more explanation to actually make sense. I’m glad for the people who read this and enjoyed it, but unfortunately it’s just not for me.

If you like your heist with a little magic!

Dani Poissant never expected to see anybody connected with magic after turning her mother in to the police but that changed when her mother’s partner Archer tracked her down with a proposition. She was expected to steal a painting of Archer before it can be sold when the massive Hackworth collection is sold off at auction.

Dani‘s talent was making any forgery look real but she knew that she needed her mom’s crew back to help steal the painting since the painting was of Archer and it had been painted in the 1890’s and he’s still alive.

If you like your heist with a little magic and some mystery you need to read The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5

This was interesting because it's a bunch of different genres mixed together. It's an organized heist but also there's magic and another element that I can't say without spoiling the book. It started out good, dragged a bit and then like halfway through I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I really enjoyed this. I liked the characters, the romance and the found family vibe was great. Solid read, definitely worth checking out.

*Thank you Del Rey for this gifted arc*

3.5 rounded up

This was an entertaining quick heist read with a dash of magi. I think my favorite part was Dani and her conflict getting back into the world of stealing art and confronting her old crew, best friend, and former lover. It added a deeper layer to the story as Dani battles to win back forgiveness but also uncover the secrets surrounding the mysterious Archer, her mother's former partner.

I really liked the premise and the story as a whole, but there were some plot points in the story that weren't fleshed out enough that made the pacing felt off at times. Also the romance elements felt lack so I didn't really buy the characters coming together at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Technically should be a DNF, but I did skim through the last 40% of the book. The premise was promising but the execution left so much to be desired. The characters felt half formed, and I never found myself engaged with any of them or their motivations. The plot itself felt meandering and slow, which is not a great fit for a heist novel. I never really felt any sense of tension or suspense. It all felt really…bland. Even the plot twist roughly halfway through wasn’t thrilling. It felt out of place and to me didn’t fit in with the rest of the world building (as limited as that world building was).

I've enjoyed other books by this author, but this one has a plot that's messy, action that doesn't really make sense, and relationships that don't feel established. Some cute moments, but overall, not successful for me.

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love heist stories whether that be books or movies. And i liked this one. I expected more action though.

Books about heists keep disappointing me. I’m just asking for something that duplicates the experience of watching the George Clooney version of Ocean’s 11 for the first time. I feel like this shouldn’t be a hard ask, but alas.

The Frame-Up had potential. Not only was it about a heist, but art forgery was also at the center of the story. Unfortunately, the magical element did not work for me. First of all, it was so vaguely described at the beginning that I didn’t understand that when the author referred to “magic,” that they weren’t just commenting about how talented someone was. (As in, “Wow, that painting you just created is magical!”) They really truly meant that a person had powers. Then a demon showed up and I was just not ready for this level of fantasy to waltz into the story. The magical element was not necessary at all and the story would have been stronger without it.

But shout out to Sunflower the dog. They were hands-down the best character in the entire book. I’d be down for a Sunflower-centric spin-off novel. But hold the magic, please.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on February 13.

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!