Reviews

Joey by Sadie Kincaid

Only show reviews with written explanations

bargall's review

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sarahs_spoilers's review

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4.0

🚨 This is not a review. It’s a list of plot events to help me remember the story. Spoilers abound! 🚨

🌶️🌶️ 🌶️🌶️ +

Tropes:

Mafia Romance
Brother's Best Friend
Friends to Lovers
Age Gap
Virgin FMC
Interconnected Standalone
Sooo spicy
No Third Act Breakup

Joey: Mafia Princess; sister of OVERPROTECTIVE Dante and Lorenzo; 22; Virgin; no life experience bc of brothers; has been in love with Max her entire life
Max: Second in charge to Dante and Lorenzo; found family brother - moved in when father was killed; "You're mine"
In Dante, Joey was a spoiled, manipulative brat but in Joey, her true personality came out and I loved her - such a bad-ass bitch.
Prologue: Max is 20 and wakes up with a dead girl in his bed; he was drunk and on drugs the night before and has always believed he got too aggressive with his hand necklace during their sexy times and killed the girl (Fiona)
At the start of the book, a pregnant sister (18) that Max didn't know he had shows up at his apartment bc her father was kidnapped
- Dante’s mother cheated on his father with his uncle (his father's brother) and left him and Max to start a new life in NJ; they had a daughter, Kristin, which they never told Max about and only told Kristin about months earlier
During the book, the Moretti's are looking for the head of Bratva, their enemy, Pushkin, who has gone underground and they can't find him
Joey goes out to a club with her best frenemy, Monique, and her bodyguards, Ash and Henry; Max shows up and he and Joey have sex in an alley; afterwards, he realizes that Joey was a virgin and freaks a little bit; Joey feels rejected bc Max says he can't be the love Joey is looking for
Joey goes to Max a few days later and asks him to teach her how to give a b-job so she's not totally experienced when she meets someone; he does but says no man is ever allowed to do that to her 🙄
Joey tells Dante and Lorenzo that she's not a child (they've been treating her like a delicate flower her entire life) and she asks to sit in some meetings about a casino they just bought; Max doesn't like this bc he just wants to protect her knowing that she's Joey Moretti and will be always be a target
When Max finds her on a date, he takes her to his cabin with him and they spend the night - her brothers show up at his house and freak out on him, telling him he's no longer part of the family and him and Dante fight - Max tells Joey to leave with her brothers
Max makes sure Joey knows he didn't reject her but also tells her that he won't be around for a few days (he's going to be searching for his uncle/Kristin's father)
Max is kidnapped by some Russians that he doesn't recognize but they do says that he took the girl that belonged to his boss - he thinks it's Kristin even though he's only known her for a couple of weeks
Dante and Lorenzo are grilling Kristin about everything she knows and she lies and says she is Max's girlfriend, which Joey hears (and eventually learns is not true)
Dante and Lorenzo find Max because he was wearing Joey's pendant, which was actually a tracker (they'd been watching over her for years)
Max finally comes clean about Kristin and Vito and his search for him; they find Max's uncle and find out he was taken bc he has a video of Sal (Dante and Lorenzo's father, who Dante killed) killing a girl -- FIONA
- Max realizes that Sal placed the dead Fiona in his bed to set him up for her murder
They realize when the kidnapper referred the bosses “girl,” they were talking about Joey
Joey gets kidnapped (with Monique drugging her) by Pushkin, to whom Sal was going to give her to and he’s come to take what belongs to him
She fights her way out and she and Max kill him
Joey is given the new casino to run and is a BOSS
HEA

Her relationship with Kat and Anya - their love for each other and how they stand together and support each other
Dante and Lorenzo's love for their wives - especially Lorenzo and Anya
Joey running the casino like the bad bitch she is
The way Kristin and Jakob look at each other, reminding Max how he looks at Joey
Anya’s letter to Lorenzo, which Max reads and is supposed to give to Lorenzo after Anya dies “at the right time”

When I look at her, she’s watching him twitch while the life drains from his body, her lips stretched in a satisfied smile. Not even a flicker of unease or discomfort on her beautiful face. That’s my fucking girl.

“Don’t you ever mistake my wife’s submission to me as anything but a reflection of my utter fucking devotion to her. I would crawl through fire and broken glass on my hands and fucking knees if she told me to. If you ever disrespect her like that again, I will rip out your fucking tongue and use it to choke you to death. You got that?”

I don’t understand why I’m the one being trusted with something as important as whatever this is.

“You are the right man, Maximo. You love him like a brother, but you see him for the man he is and the man he can be. Read the letter, and then one day I hope you will know when to give it to him.”

“Anya? Please? This feels too important. What if I fuck it up?

Her frown shifts into a beautiful smile. “You won’t. I promise you that.”

Sitting back on the sofa, I read the words a dying woman wrote to the man she loves more than anything in the world. I am not an emotional man and I never have been, but tears stream down my face as I accept the enormity of what she’s asked me to do.

imthatgirlsami's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

rissa1516's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Would give this a 4.5 stars. I love the brother's best friend trope with age gap. The spicy scenes were intense and hot. There was a good amount of mystery/action/thriller in there to keep you guessing what was going on.