~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!

The Frame-Up was not the book I wanted it to be.

According to the blurb, I was getting a book with an epic heist, unique magic, and a centuries-old mystery man. Instead, I got a magic system that was vague at best and unnecessary at worst, a heist with the lowest of stakes, and a supernatural twist that didn't really fit. The characters are pretty under-developed, there's a strange love triangle, and the heist seemed to go off far too easily. There's also more tell than show, especially when it came to Dani's relationship with Elliott, and I didn't really feel anything between most of the characters. Everything just felt sort of 'meh,' and I found this one very easy to put down.

The Frame-Up has the bones of a great story, but I needed a lot more meat for this to be up to snuff. 2.5 stars rounded up for Sunflower and for the interesting tidbits about real art heists.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of The Frame-Up! As much as I hate to say it, this book didn’t live up to its premise for me. I’m usually a sucker for heist stories, but this novel felt like it was trying to be too many things to really be a heist story. In all honesty, the heist seemed secondary to the fantasy and romantic elements of the plot, which was disappointing. While I was willing to buy into the premise of magic initially presented by the author, I also felt that the fantasy aspects of this novel seemed outlandish and didn’t really mesh with the story overall. The romance wasn’t particularly convincing either, especially given that its conclusion is already obvious from the first few chapters alone. Additionally, in terms of the characters, while we get a lot of insight into the main character, the rest of the cast fell a little flat for me. A lot of history between the characters is referenced but rarely fleshed out, and it doesn’t feel like these relationships evolve throughout the story. Lastly, the writing style just wasn’t for me. It felt like the author was trying to sound cool and edgy, making the dialogue and narration come off as cliché and juvenile. Overall, while promising, The Frame-Up ultimately did not live up to expectation for me.

Unfortunately, this is a DNF for me (DNF @ 25%). Jumping in, I didn't realize there was a paranormal aspect to this heist book, and something about that isn't working for me. Where do these powers come from? What are they? Why do they seem kind of random? Who are all these people?

Within the first 25%, we're given a lot of history, a lot of characters...but not a lot of details, somehow. We also aren't given much reason to be invested in the main character or her relationships.

This one was just not for me. But I'm sure it will be loved by others!

This was such a cool read. I think of the cover really brought me into reading it, and then the plot kept me there.

The Frame Up is one of the most unique premises I have heard of this year. An art heist in contemporary US but some people have magical powers (persuasion, sticky fingers, techno-genuis, forgery, etc.) - this was such a cool idea. Unfortunately, while the plot points and character ideas were interesting, the actual prose was very bland. I think Gwenda Bond could benefit from an editor to help punch up the writing. I will still give the author another try …. but a little disappointed here.

The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond is a fun heist story—that is a little bogged down by magic. Dani Poissant is a magical con artist who must contact her old “family” to pull off a heist. I enjoyed the art heist premise and I didn’t mind the friendship/romance aspects between characters but I felt like the magical storyline made the story a little confusing. I felt myself skimming during those details of the story. Overall an entertaining read but it had some slow parts.

On the whole, I found THE FRAME UP to be quite entertaining and enjoyable. It had a unique and intriguing concept, and the characters were well-developed with great dynamics. While there were a few slow-paced moments, the story managed to hold my interest for the most part, and I always felt compelled to pick it back up. This one is earning a 4 stars for me! I am a sucker for magic. I will take it any way I can get it in books these days.

One of the highlights of the book was the well-written heist storyline, which kept me on the edge of my seat. The side characters were also well-crafted, and added to the overall mystery and intrigue of the story. The found family dynamics were a little messy, but that made for a more compelling read.

Although the ending felt a bit abrupt, I appreciated the little bit of insight we received after the main event. Overall, while it's not my favorite book by the author, I still believe it's a solid and different type of story that readers will enjoy. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and unique read.