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!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for sharing this ARC with me!

This book was fine. The book's premise was interesting and while I was deeply intrigued with the idea of it, it fell flat. It took too long for me to understand what was happening because we jumped into things without any build-up. I found it hard to connect to any of the characters because things weren't clear in how they were written for me to follow along and actually care. While I didn't connect with it, it was a quick read so if magical realism is something people are interested in, this could work for them!

In the best way possible, this book was fine. The premise was really interesting and I love a good heist so I was drawn in. However, the execution didn’t sing to me. It took reading about 30% of the book to understand the world. I am a person that loves lore and backstory and the magic in this world was never explained thoroughly. The love triangle also fell flat to me. Dani’s inner monologue didn’t really indicate much attraction to either of her prospects and then suddenly she was choosing someone and rejecting the other? The entire book was missing a sense of urgency that was needed for a heist novel that’s on a short deadline. Throughout the book, there is an active countdown to the day of the heist but not once did I feel adrenaline. The climax and the resolution of The Plot also didn’t blow me away like I expected. Additionally, while I’m mindful that an ARC does not reflect the truly fleshed out book, many sentences felt hard and confusing to read. Overall, the barebones are there and enticing but the execution wasn’t my cup of tea.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for this book!!
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I thought I would like this book more than I did. To be fair, I loved the first half of it. The idea of these underground magical thieves was a very fun concept! I loved the opening scene with Dani and her dog Sunflower. (Sunflower is honestly one of the better parts of the story. Five stars for Sunflower). I was looking forward to a fun heist with Dani's old magical crew but.... as the story progressed I lost interest.

I liked the mystery of Archer, and how Dani was at odds with her mother/old crew, I even liked Brad and the work Dani was doing to bolster the security of "The Fortress" so she could later break into it. What I didn't like was how Archer turned out to be a demon??? I was supportive of the plot up until Dani found that old diary of her ancestor Maeve. The diary introduction was cool but I just wish that archer didn't turn out to be a demon?? In my mind demon implies angels which implies a possible higher power which implies religion and that's not where I expected the story to go.

Now, the author DOES NOT MENTION religion in any way in this book (that I can remember) but I thought it was just Archer's magical ability that was keeping him alive?? For so long??? Like maybe he could steal time from other people?? I didn't mind that he was partially trapped in the painting. I still think that could have worked if he wasn't a demon. It could have been a whole Picture of Dorian Gray kind of thing. Archer could have been this young man who wanted to steal a portrait of "his grandfather" back, when in reality he wants to steal it back so he can be at full power??? I don't know but the demon angle wasn't what I wanted.

Other than that... Elliot and Dani's relationship was so flat. I ended up liked Brad WAY MORE than I liked Elliot. It didn't matter to me that Elliot and Dani had history, I would have never given someone another chance if they left me the way Elliot left Dani. That didn't sit right with me. Also.... Brad was hot and rich and kind and into her???!?! I would've folded SO HARD.

The heist also didn't do much for me. It happened almost too little too late. I wasn't interested enough to pay attention and almost didn't even realize it was happening until Dani talked about how the paintings were being switched around. I think I was expected more Ocean's 8 with a bit of magical fun but that's not what this story was at all.

Overall, I enjoyed the magical realism but the plot wasn't what I expected.

I was so hoping to love this novel; a romance with a heist and magic sounds like everything I could want. I'm sorry to say that I really didn't enjoy this. There was little chemistry between the couple and I need so much more from them to truly believe they were falling in love. The heist itself was fine and while the inclusion of magic made this interesting, it felt out of place within this story.

I think this had so much potential but it fell very flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e arc.

I so enjoyed this novel. Dani, art thief turned con artist, has to face the music after being manipulated to return home and pull of the biggest heist of her career. She's out to prove her. mother wrong and redeem her reputation within the magic community. She must balance getting too close to her very handsome mark and the boy she left behind.

Fascinating characters. Magical elements. Intrigue. Romance. It's all here.

5 stars.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. There are a lot of good ideas here with magic and a heist and some romance possibilities. However the book rushes by everything so fast, that I didn't really get to enjoy it as much as I would've liked. I definitely think there's a possibility for a series of heists here, but please add more character and story development and more pages.

Meh…the premise was over-the-top, but overly ambitious trying to do a heist and magic (what’s the point of the magic?), and didn’t grab me. DNFed at 10%,