The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host, by Stephenie Meyer, has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I purchased it last spring - right before I broke my arm. It quickly became apparent that reading a hardcover - and a big hardcover at that - was not going to be possible with only one good arm. I tried. I propped it on my cast, tried putting it on my lap, and finally just gave up. It went back on the shelf and paperbacks became my friends.

I'm very happy to say that I finally read it. Guess what? I loved it! It took me about 50-75 pages to really "get it" but after that I just sailed along.

The Host take place here on Earth but an Earth that has been overtaken by an alien species. They are a parasitic species, they need hosts. Here on Earth, it's human hosts. The story is about one of those aliens - called souls - who is implanted into a human named Melanie. What they don't expect is that Melanie doesn't leave. Her spirit is still very present in the body. As the soul, Wanderer, attempts to assimilate to life in a human body, Melanie convinces her to try to find her family.

It sounds confusing, and at first it was. By the end, it all makes sense. Trust me on this. While it sounds like a science fiction book, it's really not. It's a book about humanity, love, and friendship. I found it disturbing at times, but in a good way. How do I as a human, want Wanderer, the parasitic alien, to succeed? I liked Wanderer and wanted a happy ending for her.

This is Stephenie Meyer's first book for adults that has nothing to do with the Twilight series. That being said, it's appropriate for teens in my opinion. There isn't any bad language and the love scenes are very chaste. I would recommend it for anyone who likes to look at the world in different ways.