All right. On the one hand, Stephenie Meyer drives me crazy. On the other hand, even though the premise isn't original, I think we all have to admit that she can write an exciting story. I know non-readers who've gone through hundreds of pages of her books in just a couple days, and you have to appreciate that. 
 But back to the first hand, on which I will ask this question: Am I the only one who is sick to death of reading female protagonists who are so self-deprecating that they honestly cannot process the idea that someone could care about them? As soon as I started this book I was regretting that I'd read Twilight first, because I knew that having read Bella Swan for four books was going to make me have less patience with Wanderer. I just get so tired of reading characters who say things like this: 
 "It bothered me that someone else had suffered for my silence--even someone who had once tried to kill me. This was not how torture was supposed to work." Page 182, when the man she's in love with has just tried to punch her but hit another man instead, because the second man (who once tried to kill her himself, actually choking her until she almost passed out) got in the way. She's upset that the guy who'd tried to kill her got hurt. 
 "My legs felt hollow, numb. Did it have to be Jared? It would be so much easier for Jamie if Kyle were the one to kill me." Page 273, when--once again--she thinks the man she loves is about to kill her, and is only worried about how it will affect her younger brother Jamie if Jared is the one to kill her. Our protagonist is always trying to literally sacrifice herself to avoid bringing anyone else pain. 
 "He grinned again. 'I feel silly standing here with my arms empty while you lug these around. Chalk it up to gallantry.' His words troubled me, and I followed him in silence. Why should gallantry apply to me?" Page 284, when she's been with the group of humans for long enough that most of them are friendly with her now. 
 "Maybe I should have run the other way. But no one was holding me back now, and though his voice was cold and angry, Jared was calling to me." Page 290, when she thinks Jared has finally come to kill her--and just after she's been telling someone that wouldn't it be better for Jamie if they just killed her now, because won't it be harder for him the longer she's alive? 
 The parts about saving the lives of her enemies (which she does at least three times) are made fairly understandable by the fact that she's a member of a peaceful, incredibly gentle alien race. The parts about her standing in front of a man who's literally on his way to kill her and only being able to think about how beautiful he is, not so much. 
 Then there's the fact that to Stephenie Meyer, the ideal man appears to be one who: 
 --is several years older than his teenage love interest, 
 --struggles against his overwhelming desire to kill her, and 
 --uses his physical strength to control her against her will (because he loves her so much and is concerned for her safety)(which actually makes sense in Meyer's twisted world because we've already established that the protagonist has literally not one single instinct to save her own life). I just think these books are giving us a really disturbing insight into the author's mind. 
 Basically, don't bother with this unless you already love Twilight, in which case you'll probably love The Host, too. Otherwise, it's not worth the number of times you'll want to smash your head against a wall.