DNF at 10%
Idk man I was just so bored. There seemingly should be a lot to be invested in. Dani's mysterious backstory and issues with her mom. The heist gone wrong. The band of misfits that used to be her family. I loved the dog, but everyone else was just kind of meh. I kept finding myself having to push to finish a chapter and life's too short. It's not badly written, I just could NOT get invested.

A fun and fast read set in the uniquely converging worlds of art heists and magic, with romance and funny characters.
I found a few parts of the story leaving me wanting more, but would definitely read more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. I really loves this book, such a fun read and probably the best heist I have ever read!! Such a fun twist on the genre with the magic, and I also liked the whole cast of characters.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for allowing me to read and review The Frame-Up.

Published: 02/13/24

Stars: 2.5

Didn't work for me.

Heist equals Pierce Brosnan, right? I read the synopsis, chuckled and thought 'let's see you get out of this one Pierce. Yikes.

Sadly, this is a mess. It's not a fairytale, therefore it needs to be realistic. The characters were marketed as con-artists (a group) who were going to perform the ultimate art heist. Fortunately these are fictitious characters and I'm not uncomfortable saying, they weren't intelligent enough to be out in public and I'm expected to enjoy the ride. Of course familial fighting and the group taking sides, blah blah blah.

I was bored and found myself line skimming trying to find more than an intriguing synopsis as a positive.

Recommend if you are looking for a nonsensical read.

An amazingly sweet book. I would recommend to all my fellow romcomers out there. HOWEVER, it was more of a relaxing read. A lot of the magic and overall plot line fell flat, so I was left wanting a bit more. Good read, but not great.

This book just didn’t do it for me. I was so thankful to receive an arc via @prhaudio but unfortunately this one just fell flat. Art thieves with magical powers? It sounded intriguing but the magic was never really explained. One character was immortal but it just didn’t fit together for me. My favorite part was Dani’s dog!

The Frame-Up has such a fantastic synopsis, and all the ingredients sound like they'll make for an absolute romp of a story - romance, magic, heists, oh my! But the execution of those elements falls short, and I was left feeling disappointed more than anything else.

Somehow it feels simultaneously like it's trying to do too much and fit too many pieces in, and like there are big chunks where things drag and could be tightened and trimmed. The writing stays obstinately unvaried throughout, meaning that romantic scenes and high-action scenes both lack any kind of tension. All that along with a handful of loose ends and unanswered questions, plus a romance that had absolutely zero development and very little chemistry, turned this one into a shrug for me.

Thank you to Del Rey for the advance review copy.

Thanks to Random House/ Ballantine, NetGalley, and Glenda Bond for the opportunity to read this book. The Frame Up is a fun heist romp with an eclectic mix of characters that have magical abilities that help them pull off elaborate jobs. Our main character has returned home reluctantly to pull a huge job that she hopes will help mend her relationship with her mother. Ten years earlier she turned her mother in and now she’s having to pull her mother’s gang together to help her steal a painting that her mother wants her to steal for a friend. But she has to prove herself to all of them first.
Excellent story and fun action I definitely recommend it.

The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond is a mystery/heist story with found-family and a little sprinkle of magic. While I enjoyed the story overall, there were some parts that I wished we a little more fleshed out, specifically the magic system. It plays such an integral role in the story but really lacks any substantial explanation, but I will admit that I don’t typically take to magical realism very easily, so your mileage may vary. It was an interesting premise but there was just too much going on for me to really get lost in it.

I really wanted to enjoy this because I am a huge fan of Gwenda's previous titles, but I was not able to connect with this one. I felt really separate from all the characters and I was just...bored. I love the premise and the cover is outstanding, but I wish this one had another round of editing. My library has bought copies and I will recommend it, but to a very specific person, rather than a general recommendation.

Dani agrees to do one last painting theft for a man that haunted her childhood in order to repair her relationship with her mother.

3.5/5
The story was very interesting, and I enjoyed the magic element. There are love interests but unfortunately the romance falls flat. There’s no chemistry between Dani and either Brad or Elliot. There are also some cringe-worthy attempts at shoehorning in political viewpoints.

Another delightful adventure from Gwenda Bond! I love a good heist story, and the delightful aspect of the paranormal that Bond does so well. There's also a lot of fun nods to art throughout the story so it would be a great gift for art lovers!

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Dani is the daughter and former apprentice of a famous art thief, until she turned her mother over to the FBI. Now, she’s been hired for a job, but first she needs to reunite her former crew. And also, they can use magic.

I was originally interested in this because heist stories are fun and heist stories with magic are even better. There were things going on in this book (magic heist, Sunflower, women getting justice, messy family dynamics) that I should’ve been into, I just felt sort of whatever about it all the whole time. I don’t think the prose itself managed to capture my attention, and I felt like I should have liked the characters but they all sort of blurred together for me. I also wish there had been more magic involved, as there were times where I forgot that they could use magic entirely. This book did start off strong, but I started flagging fairly early on, which was a little sad for me. Maybe I just need to be in a different mood, but I mostly just found this boring.

This magical heist novel was fine but forgettable. The characters were fine, the heist was fine, the magic was fine, but nothing was memorable or super unique. I wanted this book to be something more than it was.

I was super excited to read this book. The description sounded so good, am art heist that has magical people?! I am in! Sadly, I felt like this book wasn’t the page turner that I was expecting. I felt pretty bored reading it and often felt kind of lost with the magical characters. I didn’t feel a closeness to the characters as I felt there as a lack of character development. This book just fell flat for me, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Okay so, it’s an art heist, but it’s a magical art heist with a found family of really good characters. And it has a border collie, and a romance, and women getting the justice they deserve. I’d call this a feel good, especially if you love seeing female characters taking back their power. The heist itself was detailed and clever. I really enjoyed how the author kept the novel’s plot fast moving, while gradually filling us in on Dani’s past and family. The characters in this are so fun, and I really cared about them. I truly hope there is a sequel for this book because I LOVED these characters! Obviously the dog but also Dani, I felt for her so much. And I want to see more of Rabbit and Mia and Elliot and Liz and of course Sunflower🐶. I would love to read a sequel, or many sequels! I would love if this book was adapted into a tv series!

Okay so if you like heist books or magic or magical realism and found family tropes, this is a great book for you. I do not know why this is firstly billed as a Romance book, because I would argue the romance is a very small part of the book. The story is really about Dani reuniting her family and figuring out who she is and what she wants in life.
The pacing of this novel was really good. If you are interested in true crime, this story attributes a lot of famous art heists to magic which makes it really fun. Have magic, do heists amiright? The only critique I have is that the romance felt a bit underdeveloped to me. But I still wanted them to get together and I liked their chemistry.

I’d recommend this to anyone who loved the Charmed tv series, the Supernatural tv series, or Baby Driver(2017). I’d also recommend this book to anyone who took art history courses and now has a lot of seemingly useless knowledge stuck in their brain.

Trigger/Content Warnings: blood, murder off script, guns, sexual assault (historical, off script), parental neglect/abuse, brief violence, brief self harm, swearing/course language, and alcoholism.
*no animal abuse, no animal death*
Thank you to @netgalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Frame-Up seemed like such a promising read and though I enjoyed the magic realism, I just didn't;t find myself enjoying the characters and the story. This is an art heist and it didn't feel the least bit exciting or thrilling, it just felt flat...

Dani is a con-artiste/art thief who survives now alone with her exceedingly well trained collie, Sunflower, stealing from bad men. She's alone because years ago she betrayed her crew and now is outcast.

Only, someone mysteriously connected to her mother wants her back for an almost impossible heist-- steal one very important portrait from the private collection called "The Fortress".

Can Dani win back-- or even trust her old crew? What about Elliott, the one member of her crew she thought would always have her back?

To make things even more complicated, her crew is bound by found-family loyalty even more than most thieves, because they are all part of a world where people have magic. Everyone has some kind of ability that they all have used for lives of crime.

If you liked Holly Black's Curse Workers family, you'll probably like Dani and her heist, although this book is much for nuts-and-bolts heist and uncovering of who the portrait actually portrays than the emotional family development of Black's books. This is definitely more of an adult book although steam level is fairly non-existent.

Dani's got a lot of trust issues. Weirdly, most of the other characters didn't quite feel fleshed out to me (Sunflower had the most personality) and while there is an explanation at the end a bit about why some of the characters seemed to be working against their own personalities-- since we only get that explanation at the end it did seem odd for most of the story.

The premise for this one was promising, the overall end product was kind a let down. Parts of it were great, other parts not so. I appreciated being dropped right into the thick of things and there were a few times that I felt genuinely unsettled by Arthur's presence. The author did a really good job setting the tone. On the flip side, the book didn't strike me as very magical. The powers were not wow! just super convenient. I also, Elliot was just so boring, Dani and Brad seemed like a better pair.

Happy I was able to give it a try!

Dani Possiant has distanced herself from her mom, the well-known art thief but the world she grew up in isn't that easy to leave. So she has started working alone but trying to do good with her skill set. An offer she probably couldn't refuse if she wanted to allows her a chance to go back and finish a job her mother never got to. And gives her a chance to make peace with her past. This was such an enjoyable charming novel. It was part romance, part mystery and a little magic.