Another book by this author I was excited to read.... Another let down 😔 The idea for Gwenda Bond's books always sound great however boring is the only word that comes to mind when reading them 😔 I had to DNF.

I love a good heist story — How To Steal A Million (1966) is one of my favorite films, and so when I saw the premise of The Frame-Up, I was absolutely stoked. I mean, a magical art heist story, with a second chance romance? What more could a girl ask for? The Frame-Up follows Dani Poissant, art forger, the daughter of one of the world’s most famous art thieves. When we first meet Dani, it’s been ten years since she sold her mother out to the FBI — something that cost her her best friend, her boyfriend — and something she’s regretted since. At twenty seven, Dani’s approached by her mother’s partner, Archer, with a near-impossible task: to steal back a painting of Archer’s, right under the nose of the Hackworth family, and the FBI. To do so, she’ll have to mend her relationships with her old crew, while trying to figure out the real value of the portrait and who Archer really is. I think my thoughts of The Frame-Up could be summarized in one sentence: I loved the concept, but found the execution to be lacking. I was left with a lot of questions, especially around worldbuilding and character stories. That being said, I still had a blast reading The Frame-Up! Thank you so much for the ARC!

3.5 rating: I would call this a cozy fantasy. The book has the fun of a heist but most of the story is around planning it and unraveling the mysteries of Dani’s families past. It gets a tad slow towards the middle but picks up a lot towards the end as more is revealed. There are some romantic points in the story but I would say the highlight is the found family. I really enjoyed the way the magic was used in this book. The idea of a whole sort of scene of people who use their magic specifically to pull off heists kept me reading!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNFing this at 60%.

At 60% of the way through a book about a heist SOMETHING INTERESTING should have happened. Nothing has. The plot is plodding along, the characters (which SHOULD be cool) are only half formed, and nothing. is. happening. How is a heist book this boring????

The reveal of what Archer is is literally the only semi-interesting thing that's occurred, and honestly that reveal does not make sense within the world-building that we've gotten. Which, by the way, is absolutely atrocious. The world-building in The Frame-Up feels so half-assed. The beginning of the book reads like a regular old heist novel, and then suddenly there's magic involved? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM??? I genuinely felt like I had been slapped across the face at the reveal that the main character had magic.

It doesn't fit.

This novel feels like a bunch of puzzle pieces someone smashed together, not caring if they make a decent picture at the end. It doesn't work. It's boring. The characters have little to no chemistry together, and the world doesn't make sense. DNFing. No regrets.

A blend of heist and magic!

I found pleasure in this book, offering a comforting, carefree reading experience—perfect for those who appreciate a laid-back narrative. However, it may not cater to everyone's taste.

The magic element was a highlight for me, especially the diverse powers each character possessed. Dani's ability to recreate art and documents, making them appear authentic to any observer, was perfect for the heist premise.

While the magical aspects shone, the relationships and character depth fell a bit flat. The triangle potential romance, felt forced and a bit too much like preening peacocks.

Sunflower stole the spotlight as my favorite character, rightfully so. A truly perfect canine companion. Despite the minor shortcomings, I still enjoyed the overall experience of the book.
3.75

DNF at 69% — this book was unfortunately very boring and had zero tension for a heist story. Also was this supposed to be a romance? Because there was no banter, no flirting, no romantic buildup whatsoever. Everything just happened. Blandly.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found the writing and plot a bit juvenile and I just couldn't get into the book as a result. It was not written in a way to suspend disbelief. Thank you for the opportunity.

Let's talk about the cover i love this cover so interesting and was one of the reasons i requested the book. Was a first time from the author and i will read more in the future.

I loved the characters as it made it an interesting and captivating read. The magical realism was one of the main factors in the plot and was definitely interesting to keep my attention and wanting to know what was happening.

Overall, enjoyed the book!

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Thank you to Del Ray Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC, available everywhere February 2024. All opinions are my own.

It could be argued that the Poissant mother/daughter duo take the "like mother, like daughter" saying a little too seriously. Maria, the matriarch, is known as a world-renowned art thief. Her fingerprints are rumored to be all over the infamous Gardner robbery. It is only natural that her daughter would follow in her into the criminal underworld. While Maria's strengths are thievery and (literal) powers of persuasion, Dani is an expert forager. Their magical prowess has helped them evade capture for nearly all of Dani's young life but nothing good can last forever. To both their surprise, it's Dani that causes their downfall. Concerned about Archer, her mother's shadowy business partner, Dani sells her mother out to the FBI, ruining their relationship. For a decade, she's regretted her decision. Now, with Archer back in the picture, she has an opportunity to make amends with everyone affected by what happened. All it's going to take is the retrieval of a mysterious painting from a never viewed private collection affectionately nicknamed "Fortress of Art" on his behalf. Given a week to pull it off, Dani grows uneasy the closer it gets to the big day. Will pulling this off be worth it in the end?

For a novel that had a fun, innovative premise, overall, I found it underwhelming. Parts of it were great, like our introduction to Archer early on. I appreciated being dropped right into the thick of things. Plus, there were a few scenes where I felt genuinely unsettled by his presence. The author did a really good job creating a tense, unsettling atmosphere. On the flip side, the book didn't strike me as very magical. The powers were not wow!, if that makes sense. Sometimes it felt hard to take a reference to magic seriously because of it. I also could have done without the love triangle. Elliot was just so boring. Dani and Brad seemed like a better pair.

Happy I was able to give it a try!

This was such a great book. The plot was very well thought out and very well written. I absolutely loved the romance.

unfortunately, I was not vibing with this one and I had to DNF. The plot seemed so promising but it fell short.
I just don't think this book was for me.


I will recommend this book to the right audience.

In The Frame-Up, the disgraced daughter of a master art thief has to get her mother's magical team back together to pull off the heist of a lifetime. I enjoyed this overall and would recommend it to anyone who usually enjoys stories with just a sprinkling of magic thrown in, but my main reasoning for giving this an average rating is that I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't sure what kind of story it was trying to be.

There were several elements at play that I felt like the author only halfway committed to. The magical world was never really expanded upon beyond the initial explanation that some people possess magical abilities, and the abilities chosen by the author felt strange—for example, there's a character who can manipulate electronics, which stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the others (who had much more emotional/psychological abilities) and felt like it was thrown in there just as an easy way to get them through the security systems in the places they're stealing from. There was also a love triangle going on, and yet there weren't any particularly romantic scenes included other than one-liners about people kissing. Again, it felt like that was thrown in out of some sort of obligation to keep readers' interest rather than a genuine desire to make this a romance book.

Because the magical or secret world wasn't built out very thoroughly, when the existence of demons was suddenly revealed in the middle of the book, it felt like that didn't at all belong in the same world as the rest of the story. If the author had wholly committed to that concept and made this whole plot about generations of women fighting to destroy a demon that was trapped in a painting, that would have been an EPIC historical fantasy book. I would have been all over that. Instead, it was paired with this magical world that had its own completely different tone/vibe, like this was two books squished together struggling to compete with each other.

All of that said, The Frame-Up still kept me pretty entertained, even if there were some points where the pacing dragged a little bit. I liked the protagonist, Dani, and her dog Sunflower absolutely stole the show.

Big thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read. The premise was unique to any I’ve read before, and I was fairly invested in the storyline as it progressed (though I was able to discern most of the plot twists early on). With the magical realism component heavily driving the plot, this read was entertaining enough to keep my attention while also not necessarily being a stand-out. I do wish the romance element was more pronounced, but overall, I enjoyed it. Solid three star read.

Thanks to NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.