This novel, in my opinion, had a lot of potential to be truly excellent. The cover is quite attractive and captivating, and the subject was intriguing. I didn't want to give up on the book too soon, even though it didn't fully accomplish what it set out to do.

Fairly enjoyable but nothing special, I wasn't blown away by this in the way I wanted to be by the premise.

I just didn't feel the connection between the 2 main characters in this and so it fell quite flat for me.

I really liked the premise of the story but just couldn't get into it because I really felt like there was no spark.

DNF at 30%

Loved the idea of this, but I find the pacing to be quite slow and plodding, which was unexpected for a heist thriller.

This never really came together right. Dani's the daughter of an art thief who uses her magic to make copies of paintings that are utterly convincing. She used to work with her mother's team of magical art thieves until an FBI agent persuaded her to betray her mother, Maria. Maria went to prison and Dani has been kicking around and feeling guilty ever since. Now Maria's former partner Archer approaches her and asks her to do one last heist, so she must get the team back together and steal a painting. It's a great set-up. I was all in.

The problem was the execution of pretty much everything. There's an incredibly boring love triangle involving Elliot, a member of the magical art thieving team, and Brad, the owner of the target painting. Apparently Gwenda Bond thinks that getting all huffy and jealous is an attractive feature in potential love interests, because Brad sure does a lot of it, even though he's also a 'nice guy', which, geez.

Maria herself operates according to utterly unfathomable motivations. She is very pro-heist, fully devoted to making this happen, so I simply do not understand why she does the things she does to interfere with it. At one point she gets Dani fired from her cover-job as head of security at the heist location, and it's presented as a training exercise: you were doing too well, dear; we must make the job harder. Um, wut? Why? Maria is fully invested in making this heist happen for Reasons, as we learn at the end of the book. So; why would she do anything to endanger it?

There's another plot element involving a secret diary, which Maria hides where Dani can find it. Leaving aside how Maria got this diary in the first place, which seems to require some extremely helpful historical lost-child-finding from people that I don't believe would be inclined to reunite lost child with dead mother's diary, this diary is responsible for giving Dani qualms about the job. So why does Maria leave it where Dani can find it? It's presented as an intentional clue that Maria left for Dani, not an accidental discovery. But the diary is pretty damning with respect to Archer's history and motivations, so if Maria had any sense she'd want to keep it far, far away from Dani--especially since Dani has already proven herself not fully reliable (y'know, with the whole betraying-mom-to-the-FBI thing).

Then there's the actual heist itself. Heist novels need to have a crystal clear plan, so that when the plan falls apart and the underplan is revealed, the reader has a satisfying sense of wheels within wheels. The problem is that the secrets of the underplan and the workings of the primary plan were sort of scrambled up with each other, so I was never entirely clear what was supposed to be happening, and whether complications were expected or unexpected. And Brad ends up being SURPRISINGLY SUPPORTIVE of the whole heist job, in ways that really seemed like they were included for plot-convenience rather than any actual thought-out reasons.

So, in sum: good set-up, but the execution was pretty scrappy and ad-hoc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

This was a fun heist read! The second half of the book after Archer's true nature was revealed is a lot better than the first, and goes down a route I wasn't expecting but really enjoyed!

I really enjoyed Maeve's diary entries, and I almost wish the book had been more dual perspective or that there's another book about her because Maeve's story was so compelling. Bond's writing really shined in the diary-style, historical sections as well, and it was clear that she would be an excellent historical fiction author.

Brad and Elliot are our quasi-love interests, and we don't really get to know either one of them that well. What we do know made me sort of root for one, but I wasn't invested enough to mind when she ended up with the other.

I love the close of the book, with the impression being that <spoiler> they may go around clandestinely returning lost masterpieces to the public </spoiler>. I just think that is such a fabulous idea with so much potential.

I'd definitely read another book if this was a series! I'd really like to get to know the side characters more, as I feel I don't know them well enough yet.

Three and a half stars, rounded up to four for Goodreads!

The premise of this book is so interesting and unique, I thought I'd devour it in one go. But instead of suspense and a fast paced story, I ended up with a bit too many characters and subplots, and I really couldn't get into any of it. The style just wasn't there and I didn't feel the chemistry between the main characters.

This one just really didn't work for me.

This was a new to me author and the synopsis of the book had me hooked. I loved meeting Dani and her dog Sunflower but some of the other characters did fall a wee bit flat. They really could have done with a bit of beefing up. The verbal shorthand and insults/banter that a former crew now reunited should have were also missing.

Dani and the crew - Rabbit, Mia & Elliott need to pull off one last job for her mothers former partner. Magically enhanced paintings, persuasion spells and more are all involved in the heist. With a short window of opportunity to pull off the heist, Dani needs to get her former crew to work with her as seamlessly as they once did.

It gave off Oceans Eleven with magic vibes and I quite enjoyed, I can forgive a lot of things if the story hooks me. The pacing was slow to start with but improved through the book.

I'd definitely read another book in the series should there be one.

This was my first ARC of 2024 and I really was not expecting it to be a DNF. I’m honestly quite disappointed as this sounded so interesting, but it was, for lack of a nicer word, boring.

I found the opening chapter to be genuinely confusing. I had no idea who was who and what was going on. This is definitely one of those books that read like you should already know the world and its people, but you don’t so it makes no sense. Maybe I was just super tired when I started it or maybe I’m a bit of an idiot, but I really didn’t know what was happening and this put a sour taste in my mouth going forward.

There were a few cases of what I suppose you would call insensitive descriptions, one being: “He had the look of someone who’d been in and out of jail”. What does this even mean? Please describe this “look” as I'm very curious. I had no idea criminals came with a default look. Am I being silly for not liking this description? Possibly.

The one part of the first chapter that really made me laugh was one of the characters turning to the bartender and asking for “the best whiskey you have” and it’s Jim Beam. I wouldn’t exactly call that a highbrow whiskey but sure. This isn’t a necessary thing to include in the review as it has no relevance to how good or bad the book was, but I thought it was funny and worth mentioning.

After making it, honestly, not too far into this book I did decide to stop reading. I felt like I was wasting my time trying to slog through the pages and giving in to that feeling is not something I want to be doing in 2024. If you aren’t enjoying something stop. Which is exactly what I did.

The Frame Up was a book with a lot of potential that, unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to. Dani Poissant is the daughter of a famed art thief, as well as being a pretty neat thief and forger herself. The key to their success is magic, something only certain people have an affinity for, and something that is not widely known about. After she got her mother sent to jail, she was exiled from that world, and has spent her life doing small jobs that allow her to keep living. When her mother's former partner comes to her with a job that will bring her back into her past life, Dani can't resist, especially when the heist is one her mother had planned herself years ago, but never got to complete. But Dani can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right with Archer, her mother's former partner, and once she starts looking into him, she realises that they are linked deeper than even she realised. The more she learns, the more she realises she may be in way over her head, and she quickly comes to realise there is far more to this job that she initially thought.

Ok, so let's start off with the things that worked for me. The Heist elements were so much fun, I especially liked how we got an insight into the planning and preparation for them. Bond manages to give us plenty to work with, while still keeping some elements close to the chest so there are plenty of surprises as well to keep us entertained. I also enjoyed the relationships, the familial ones anyway. Dani and her mother have an extremely complicated relationship, one that doesn't exactly get better as the book goes on, but her relationships with her mother's past crew members really shone for me. Rabbit & Mia, mother and daughter who Dani practically grew up with, Elliot, the boy she loved. Things are undeniably strained after not seeing each other for nearly a decade, but I enjoyed seeing them reunite, falling back into old patterns.

Dani herself was a great character, my one issue with her was that her internal monologue was so repetitive it actually started grating on me, and I found myself skipping passages of the book because of how many times that certain plot point had been mentioned already, sometimes almost verbatim. She's someone struggling with her past decisions, half of her believing that sending her mother away was the right thing to do, and the other half not being able to come to grips with her betrayal and how it took away the only family she's ever had. She's by no means a weak character, incredibly strong and willing to do what is right, damn the circumstances, and I adored her best friend/guard dog Sunflower the Collie. When Dani starts looking into Archer, she comes across a past family member, someone we get introduced to through diary entries, and someone I instantly found intriguing. In fact, I actually found myself more interested in a character that had about three chapters than the main character. I would have loved to get more chapters from this perspective, and it was such a shame she was only given a few pages.

Alongside Dani we get introduced to a fairly wide cast of side characters: Archer, her mothers former partner, Mia, Rabbit & Elliot, the crew she used to work with & Brad, the person who hires her as security for a new job. I loved Mia and the relationship between her and Dani, you could tell how close these two were, almost sisters, and I enjoyed seeing them reform their connection. Elliot annoyed me a little, and I will come to why later, but Archer was the character that I just couldn't find myself to like. Now he's the baddy, but if done correctly you can still like them, he just seemed an almost caricature of what a baddy is supposed to be, and because of this, I never really truly felt the sinister and dark emotions his scenes were supposed to give off.

I do feel that this book was way longer than it needed to be, I mentioned the repetitiveness before, but it was prevalent through so much of this book and mainly focused around Dani's decision to hand over her mother, her past relationship with Elliot, and the current love triangle she found herself in. They were repeated that often that it got to the point I was bored of hearing about it, something that simply shouldn't happen. I also didn't enjoy the love triangle that was featured, it seemed like it was put there solely to add a little tension, but instead it just made me cringe in parts, the puffing up of chests, and trying to one up each other... it wasn't needed and I think there were far easier ways to add tension to Dani and Elliots relationship without adding in someone he just spent the entire book trying to 'out man.'

As a whole I did enjoy this one. I do think it had the potential to be a whole lot better, but it was fun and had some pretty intense scenes/plot twists that managed to keep me hooked. If you're in the mood for a good fantasy heist story with a little bit of mystery thrown in I would definitely give it a go, just be prepared for a whole boat load of repetition.

3.5⭐️

This was good, it just felt like it was missing something for me. The romance is barely a blip on the radar, but I didn’t mind that too much. I do feel like a significant amount of the book only occurred because of plot convenience, which left some parts of the book feeling a bit flat. On the whole, a good read, just not as exciting as I wanted it to be.

What to say about this one, cute read.
Will this be mine favorite read this year, .... hmmm... no. Will I ever read it again, probably not. But it was fun and cute

This is super readable! Is it the best thing you’ll read this year? Probably not. Will it keep you engaged and entertained for a couple of afternoons? Absolutely yes.

It has enough magic, enough romance and adventure to be a solid choice for a bit of light reading

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond'.

'The Frame-Up' is a heisty romancey type book and I'm gutted. Honestly, I expected to be in awe of this book and hooked to every page. Instead I just felt bored and I really considering DNFing this multiple times. There is definitely an audience out there for this book but that sadly isn't me.

Fun, exciting, and something I definitely haven't read before! I expected this to be a more of a romcom than the thriller it ended up being, but the balance was done so well! With excellent writing, dramatic escapes, and a love triangle I ended up loving. This was definitely a hoot, and I'll read anything by this author again!

After betraying her mother in her teens, Dani would do anything to get back in her good books - including running a heist for her mother’s secretive partner.

‘The Frame Up’ follows Dani as she looks at getting back with her mom’s old crew to pull of the biggest art heist of all time. It includes magic, betrayal and a very cute Collie called Sunflower.

I thought the book was good, and had the potential to be great, but something about it was lacking for me.

Thanks NetGalley and Headline Books for the ARC.

"The Frame-Up" is a romance, with a touch of magic, written by Gwenda Bond.

A group of thieves with magical abilities? A mysterious and extremely high-risk heist? A potentially troubled and conflicted romance? I jumped right into this book! Seriously, I loved the premises of "The Frame-Up" so much that I started reading it with high expectations, convinced I would enjoy it. But it didn't! And I confess I was rather disappointed because yes, it had all the right elements to win me over. Only I don't know, I found it boring, despite the presence of theft. I felt no tension, no excitement, and the development seemed rather hurried and superficial. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of romance written in third person, and "The Frame-Up" is a romance written in third person. And this certainly influenced my difficulty in getting involved in the story. The vague magical aspect, with no descriptions or explanations, certainly doesn't help. Not to mention the characters! Except for Dani, the protagonist, the rest have the depth of puddles. Seriously, I found them so poorly developed that I could not bond with them. The romance, as a result, suffered negatively, leaving me completely indifferent. On the other hand, I enjoyed Dani, Sunflower and the fast pace.

All in all, this is a book with fantastic premises, which unfortunately did not convince me in the development.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is SUCH a good time. A high stakes heist, but make it magic?! I was absolutely sold from the beginning. Really enjoyed the romance, the mystery, the ragtag bunch of magical misfits coming together… it even had the best good dog of all. It would make such a juicy Netflix series. I loved it!

Such a fun read!

The Frame-up follows Dani a thief/con artist with a little magic who is approached to carry out a job she needs her old crew for. However she hasn’t seen or spoken to any of them in ten years as she betrayed them and her mother ended up in prison.
This book was fun, adventurous and quite addictive. I read it in two sittings, I struggled to put it down. I love the concept and really enjoyed all the characters. Everyone needs a Sunflower!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to have an ARC in return for an honest review.

This really looks to be a fun unputdownable read! Ever since I saw a movie of a similar theme with Emrata and Theo James I can’t help passing up an adventurous book like this one! I’ll be sharing my full thoughts soon!p, but readers are in for a fun and wild ride!