Hostile

by A.D. Justice

480 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 2026

About the author

A.D. Justice is the award winning USA Today bestselling author of multiple series and stand-alone romance novels.

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Reviews

[Paula (in & out) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this made me feel dumb with all the corporate espionage, acquisitions, academic mumbo jumbo and lawyerly talk that went over my head and kinda lost me with the lack of romance & character development which flew the coop. It’s not a bad read by any means, it’s just not what I was expecting.

So story is about a 19 year old MMC who comes from a rich & entitled family, and 18-year-old FMC from a lower class. FMC’s parents worked for MMC’s family (her mom was a housekeeper and her dad as a groundskeeper I think). In HS, MCs had a little crush on each other but we are never really shown this. Instead, all we are told is that MMC makes 2 small attempts in HS to talk to her but gets interrupted by evil twin sister who has had it in for FMC since the age of 6 for some unknown reason.

Anyway, FMC goes on a scholarship to Harvard and MMC switches colleges to be near her and get to know her. While in college, they become friends and more. On the night they became lovers, twin sister does something despicable to break them up. For the breakup spoilers, see below.

Then in the present, it’s 10/11 years later and MMC has come home to take over the family business from his Father. FMC is now rich & very successful with her own company. She has held a grudge & revenge against MMC & his family for a long time and six years prior started planning it which she unleashes after buying shares in his company in order to take them all down since they also did her Father wrong. The revenge aspect and how she cornered MMC was beautiful to read as we never see a heroine outsmart an MMC, but the problem is that we never get MMC's thoughts about what it would mean if he lost his family business & whatnot. We don't see any fear on his part that FMC has him by the balls and is not letting go so the "revenge" felt off. Plus, it doesn’t last long because once she finds out what MMC truly did/meant, she forgives him and revenge is forgotten and now they are back together. So the "romance” aspect was disappointing because we never see them bond and get to know each other. The sex scenes are fade to black and there is no discussion of anything important because that too is fade to black.

So here’s the FYI on the reason for the breakup:

MMC’s sister hates FMC and did everything possible to manipulate MMC in the past to break them up. On the night the MCs first make love, she paid an OM to install a camera in MMC’s room to video tape them having sex and the next day the video went vital and everyone on campus saw FMC naked & having sex with MMC’s face obscured. She was devastated and when she came across MMC, he was telling some kids that “it’s not him” - meaning it’s not him who texted the sex video but FMC interpreted it that he was saying, "it’s not him in the video" therefore gaslighting her.

So she runs away from him and stays with a friend for 3 days and as he was slow to go after her, he never got to explain himself. Then a few days later he leaves & switches colleges at his father’s insistence and he attempts to go speak to her after 3 months but chickens out the last minute.

The whole sex tape thing is made as insignificant. Meaning, we never see MMC talk about how degrading & violating that was for FMC and for himself for someone to tape them. Later on in the present, the focus is on MMC's sister and what she did than the actual event which was made to seem as no big deal and that just felt wrong and missed opportunity.

Then we get a snippet conversation from FMC when she tells him she was pregnant with his baby and lost it because of all the stress she was under after the sex tape and he responds that he knew about the miscarriage because her BFF had told him. So that too came off flat & emotionless and it was never discussed again.

There’s also more stuff happening with OW (aka evil twin sister) who is trying to take over the family business from her brother and for my safety friends, there is no OM or OW in this or cheating -not before or after. There was an OM in college who had the hots for FMC but she had no interest in him.

In terms of safety, there’s also no info if they were celibate or not during separation. The only thing we got is this line from MMC - “I loved the girl with a boy’s whole, ignorant heart, and for ten years I was faithful to a memory the way monks are—through discipline and imagination.” Whatever that means.....

[Ioana Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 closed-door stars

Plotul, in esenta, bun..dar, PT MINE, prea multe detalii legate de investiții si finanțe 🙈 iar scrisul parca robotic.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wyatt Aldridge and Megan Hale have known each other since when they were younger. Wyatt was wealthy and Megan's mom was just a housekeeper for the Aldridge family. She thought he was so cute with his blonde hair and blue eyes. She would watch him from afar in the parking lot of their school. She even caught him looking at her. But, as best friends, go Christine was always there to reel Megan back in.

When her and Wyatt would finally talk, there was always his twin, Blair, guiding him away from Megan in some way. She was pretty evil, but Wyatt thought his sister was just looking out for him and the family.

Years later after Wyatt broke her heart and Blair saw to it that they weren't together, she devised a plan to buy shares in Wyatt's company to get her revenge back for the things his family had done wrong to hers. She now owns her own company and has the funds for that revenge.

So many twists and turns! I was shocked at where this story led me to. All totally justified! I loved Wyatt and Megan, so glad they worked together and got their happily ever after!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Megan and Wyatt were a couple when they were in college, and they had a horrible breakup, causing Megan to seek revenge years later. Megan now owns her own company, is buying shares in Wyatt's company, and is now more determined to get revenge against Wyatt and his family for everything they have done to her and her family. This is a second chance, enemies to lovers romance with a revenge twist. The writing is good, the characters are well developed, and the unexpected twists made this a page turner. Hostile is book four of the No Safe Corner series. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

[Andrea Britton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hostile by A.D. Justice is a must read second chance, enemies to lovers, he falls first and hard romance that will have you devouring the pages. Goodness, these two go a decade without answers. Megan Hale and Wyatt Aldridge had a connection until it was severed. Megan made a plan and was sticking to it until the moment she made her love and everything changed.

The depth of the characters is felt with every word of this story. I really loved it. And didn’t want to put it down. A must read story.

Highly recommended.

[Valentina Andreieva · Rating 1 out of 5]

It felt like the book was written with the help of AI. In every chapter, we were constantly reminded about the 22% and 12% stakes in the company. It was tedious. The characters were flat and devoid of emotion. I never managed to get past the halfway mark.

[Kirstie Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Such a smart, clever and intense story that had me wrapped around its pages the whole time. I enjoyed the suspense and all the twists, turns and secrets unravelling.