Artful Readers Club - April

I have a confession to make... my book for April for Darcy's Artful Readers Club was meant to be "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel. I was still only halfway through by the end of April...ooops. But looking at my list again I realised I'd put "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer on it - which I read back in March before I went to see the film! So, The Host is now my April book and I will review Bring Up the Bodies for May (which I have finally finished). Hope that's clear!

I imagine most people have heard of Stephenie Meyer as the author of the Twilight saga but she has also written The Host, which I was aware of but had never got around to reading. I had no idea of the plot until the trailers started appearing for the film and was actually a little surprised to find it's along the lines of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The synopsis...

"Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love."

The review...

This book, like Twilight, is aimed at "young adults", so is a nice easy read - I think it only took me a few days to finish it. The author deals with the conflicting thoughts of the two women very well and it's not difficult to follow who is "speaking" each time. You easily find yourself sympathising with the "alien" and understanding her point of view so the book was interesting in that respect. If you like books in this genre then I think you'd definitely enjoy this book. As for the film..."it was alright" was our response when the credits rolled - the book is much better!

The art...

I've been working on this on and off for a few weeks - I've attempted a face - she's ok, apart from one eye being bigger than the other! Her eyes are silver - the trait that indicates a human has been taken over. The silvery strands around her head are the "alien" - they enter through the back of the neck. And I put some planets around the page to indicate all the planets Wanderer has inhabited before coming to earth - I couldn't resist a bit of doodling though!