The Host by Stephanie Meyer: Captivating & Addicting

Stephanie Meyer has a brilliant mind for fiction. Her twilight series is on my top 10 list, but The Host is unbelievable. The way she writes, you feel you are a part of the story, like it's really happening to you - truly amazing.

Science fiction isn't my usual forte (love the vamps though), but when I finally picked up The Host, I couldn't put it down. This story could be real. Think objectively and scientifically, if these types of aliens really existed somewhere in our infinite space, would we even know if they were to take over our bodies and control our minds?

The story-line has been done before: aliens vs. human race; a fight for our existence; a fight against aliens who think us inferior or unworthy of our bodies, or this planet. It's the kind of alien and how they take over that's unique and intriguing: a spider-like alien that can be seen when you shine a flashlight in their eyes; attaches itself to your brain stem - routing through everything with their legs; and call themselves souls. The aliens make your soul go away forever and they take over, but a small percentage of human souls that the aliens have taken over have remained, and both the human and alien can communicate with each other.

By the end of this book, you will find yourself cheering on not only our own kind, but the aliens that have gone native. You will have gone from survival to sympathy (for some of the aliens). These aliens have their own 'police' and will kill or re-insert any alien who favors the humans (us). They must hide too. Humans hide together - safety in numbers. The groups that have 'adopted' an alien will fight other humans to keep it safe - it just might be a family member. The Host is my new favorite book. I recommend it to everyone - and have now been bitten by the sci-fi bug.

I am thrilled beyond belief that they are making The Host into a movie and will be in theaters in the Spring of 2012! I can't wait.