"The Host" by Stephanie Meyer

[Ruthla]

I and my daughters quite enjoyed the Twilight series, and I'm wondering about the suitability of other books by the same author. Why exactly is The Host marketed as an adult book rather than a YA? Is it completely unsuitable for young teens, or is it only because the main characters are adults?

I'm not looking for any plot spoilers- but I do want to know if there are any graphic sex scenes in the book, or REALLY intense violence. If there's a lot of violence, I won't want to read it. If there are graphic sex scenes, I'll want to read it but not share with my kids.

Has she written any other books besides The Host and the Twilight Series, or is that it so far?

[onlyboys]

I don't recall any explicit sex scenes. In fact, the book as a whole was fairly uninteresting. I was disappointed, having enjoyed the energy of the Twilight series.

There is some violence, but no more so than Twilight.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

I think it is an "adult" book because the main characters are older. Usually once you get to "teen" books the main difference between them and adult books is the age of the characters.

[angelachristin]

I don't remember any graphic sex scenes. The author is Mormon, so it's unlikely she would write scenes like that. As the PP said, there is no more violence than in Twilight. Probably less, in fact.

I really enjoyed it, and wasn't expecting to at all. My sister gave me her copy because she said she started it and it was "boring," I say give it a chance because the story is very interesting and thought-provoking.

[Ruthla]

Ok, thanks. I didn't know the author was Mormon.

I do know from experience that plenty of "romance novels intended for adults" do include some pretty graphic sex scenes.

[Oriole]

It's definitely no more violent or graphic than Twilight series. I didn't enjoy it as much as Twilight, but it still was a good read. You are your daughter shoudln't run into anything too controversial, especially if you enjoyed Twilight.

[astar326]

Originally Posted by Oriole

It's definitely no more violent or graphic than Twilight series. I didn't enjoy it as much as Twilight, but it still was a good read. You are your daughter shoudln't run into anything too controversial, especially if you enjoyed Twilight.

ditto. i was really excited to read Stephanie Meyer's adult book, but found it was less passionate then her twilight series and disappointing.

[MelanieMC]

: I really like the book, but I was surprised that it didn't really feel more like an "adult" book than Twilight. The only reason I could see it being classified as adult fiction is b/c the characters are adults themselves. There's violence, but not as much as in the Twilight series, and honestly there was much more sexually graphic details (which tells you a lot) in Breaking Dawn (the 4th twilight book) than there were anywhere in The Host. I see no reason a young teen couldn't read it.

[Valkyrie9]

See, I thought The Host was WAAAAY better than the Twilight series. (I liked Twilight et al., but there were some terrible "clunks" in the writing that I had to take notice of in spite of how fun the plot lines were.) The Host didn't have those failures, IMO.

I really wouldn't have too much trouble letting a reader who enjoyed Twilight read it. It's probably less steamy than the Twilight books, really.