The Host by Stephenie Meyer

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer (Due out May 6th.)
Review by Emily of Deliciously Clean Reads and Whimsy

I never thought an author could make me cry over a dying alien...but that's Stephenie Meyer for you. I mean really, how many authors do you know who could capture the heart of the world through a vampire romance? Well, The Host's plot is every bit as cheesy-sounding. Yet, there I was, crying...enthralled...unable to put it down.

The Host started out a little rough for me. It is written from the perspective of a parasitic alien who has just entered into a human body. At first, I couldn't help but be a little turned off by the sci-fi aspect of the plot...but by about page 40, I was completely sucked in. Stephenie Meyer is talented at taking an out-there plot and making it ridiculously compelling and romantic.

Check out the rest of the review at Deliciously Clean Reads.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

I'm sure someone will review Eclipse, so I might as well get New Moon in first. If you read Twilight, you'll enjoy it's sequel, New Moon. As a YA read, it's easy and fast-paced. Bella is faced with a new challenge, this time involving something nearly as menacing as vampires, and threads that are introduced in the first book are carried through in New Moon.

It's hard to review this book without giving spoilers . . . I can't talk about any main plot element without giving away something . . . so I'll just tell you some of my favorite things:

1. Bella goes through a period of depression. When she gets to the depths of despair, the months pass without her remembering them. The author tracks the passage of time with the name of each month on a blank page. Very creative.

2. I loved the Romeo and Juliet tie ins--they were a fun addition. Some reviewer somewhere will probably criticize this as being cliche. But it was perfectly fitting to the story and perfect for the genre.

3. The ending leaves you questioning (and hoping) that the two main elements of the first two books in the series will be tied up in book three.

4. Read the author's acknowledgements at the end. It's great to catch such a personal glimpse.

5. This is my own warning: When I read New Moon, I decided to read Twilight again. It was better the second time because I wasn't racing through it to find out what happens at the end. I was able to enjoy all the foreshadowing to New Moon and really appreciate the obsessiveness between Bella and Edward.

Twilight

This book is by a BYU grad, Stephenie Meyer. It isn't what would be considered LDS fiction, but it is a chaste young adult book that adults will love as well.

One of my best friends sent me this book to help me get out of my reading "funk". It worked. I finshed the hefty volume in a day and now I'm waiting to get the sequel. This same friend is a writer and she has a blog called Book Club President where she reviews books and adds discussion questions. Her review was exactly what I would have written (had I her talent with words) so I'm just going to link to it here.

My new favorite book!