Steaming hot read - and I will be looking for more titles from this author. Loved the characters, plot, and everything about it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emotional and intense read with interesting characters.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy.

A very emotional and somewhat dark story about Lacey and Tate and their love and survivoring and overcoming their trauma with the help of complete strangers who cared..
Be prepare to cry,rage and love.
Voluntarily reviewed.

5/5 ⭐
2/5 🌶️

I expected Hostile Saint to pick up after Illusions or maybe they would meet halfway, but it's almost the exact same time period told solely from Tate's point of view. You'd think you'd get bored of the receptiveness, but somehow this is an entirely different story and India has once again blown me away. Tate's story was just as dark and tragic and even more twisty and bloody than Lacey's.

This story was hauntingly beautiful. We get to watch him save Lace, make her fall in love with him all over again and finally bring her home. But even more than that, we get to watch Tate find a family that will always have his back. I absolutely loved watching him with Lynx and Elle. Seeing the Prez take him under his wing and not just find him brothers, but a real and true family was something else. My heartstrings were well and thoroughly pulled. I think my favorite moment of the whole book may have been when he finally gets to meet Elle face to face, I had to pull myself together in the preschool pickup lane.

We spent a lot of this book still in the dark about what the motivation was for Lacey and Tate's brother's torture... but it slowly came to light and my jaw just kept dropping and dropping. You think you get to the bottom of it, but there's another layer waiting to surprise you with it's depravity. The revenge was sweet and just, Tate was perfect (even without his spoon). And the ending was amazing. Not to mention we got a epilogue that has me craving more because, yet again, India surprised the heck out of me with another little twist. I can't wait to start going through more of her backlist and getting all of these amazing characters stories read.

This novel is told in the first person, entirely from Tate's POV. But there's a prequel novella Hostile Illusion, that is told from Lacey's POV and is--at least as I write this--available as a free download. While Hostile Saint technically stands alone, you really should read the prequel because without it, Lacey in HS may come off a little flat, defined only by Tate's incredible devotion to her. HS is the proverbial onion with innumerable peeling layers, and the prequel works as an anchor to keep the reader from getting lost.

I really liked this story in spite of the fact that covers every single content warning you can think of, multiple times over. In fact, I'm not even going to bother putting content warnings at the end of my review because the list would be too long. But most happen in the past and come out as memories, nightmares, or recollections, so the story, which takes place mostly after Tate is discovered by the Stallions MC, actually feels both healing and hopeful.

Tate is adorable. He's only 17, which might make one think that this is a YA/NA novel, but it's not. He tells the story almost as if he's a full grown adult recalling the past. And I wouldn't particularly call it a romance novel in that it's not about a couple battling the usual tropes and falling in love. It's more about a love that conquers everything. It's about devotion and trust. And all that is stuff that I really liked.

So what didn't I like... It's hard because the members of the MC who save Tate are so amazingly supportive and wonderful to him. But I just don't like MC novels. You can tell me up and down and left and right how these Hog-riding alpha men are really softies inside who love and respect their women, but I'm never going to find it believable, especially with the disdain behind how they talk about club "bunnies," who are basically woman not considered worthy of being a biker's old lady. The schmaltz about how the Stallions' bunnies are so well treated? Meh. I just couldn't go there. Aside from that, there are a few bloodthirsty parts I was uncomfortable with, but I don't want to say much more because I don't want to risk spoilers.

Will I read more in this series? Maybe. I'm very glad I read this one and it's prequel, but I don't know if I need to return to this world. That said, the epilogue makes the next book very tempting.

I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher and Netgalley. I'm writing this review voluntarily, and it reflects my honest opinion. Thanks!

OMG! That was one hell of a titillating journey to be taken on! I have rarely been taken so hard with characters in a book. And not only was it freaking captivating but it was fucking HOT!!.

Just wow. Darkest of dark with no visible escape, and it just gets worse until you think you can't take it anymore - but from the dark comes light, trust and deep love and friendship. Worth the journey, and the oh-so-satisfying retribution. Multiple triggers, which the author does give warning to, and take them seriously.