Reasons We Love The Host

For Valentine’s Day 2009 at The Host Novel we decided to come up with as many reasons as we could that we loved The Host. Not only did we make it past our initial goal of 101, we came up 112 reasons! Now it’s your turn to read our current reasons and add your own reason to the list! All you have to do is type it in the submission box at the bottom of the page. (Just make sure it’s not already on the list!) It won’t appear immediately, but as soon as we can verify it’s not spam, we’ll add it to the list!

	1.	Because Ian O’Shea owns Edward Cullen.
	2.	Because Melanie is a strong female character who can protect herself.
	3.	Because it made us all appreciate Cheetos.
	4.	Because when Jared and Ian fight over the girl, they get physical too.
	5.	Because it’s an interesting love triangle quadrangle.
	6.	Because “You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me.”
	7.	Because Wanda was willing to die to save Melanie.
	8.	Because Ian didn’t care what Wanderer’s new body looked like.
	9.	Because “Melanie will always be mine. And I will always be hers.”
	10.	Because Jared wouldn’t give Melanie up to save 5 million lives.
	11.	Because Wanderer is so noble she saves the man who tried to murder her.
	12.	Because we like their kissing “experiments.”
	13.	Because two minds, one body makes one interesting novel.
	14.	Because the some Souls decide to “go native.”
	15.	Because out of all her lives on different planets, Wanderer decides Earth is her home.
	16.	Because for Jared, “Neither heaven nor hell can keep me apart from you, Melanie.”
	17.	Because it made us laugh… and cry.
	18.	Because Jamie is the best little brother ever.
	19.	Because it taught us how amazing mankind is.
	20.	Because it showed us that its totally possible to live underground.
	21.	Because there’s a Dolphin Planet.
	22.	Because “It’s a strange world.”
	23.	Because it prepared us for what to expect if Earth is invaded by body-snatching aliens.
	24.	Because love squares are more interesting than love triangles.
	25.	Because now we don’t feel like we’re crazy for hearing voices in our heads…
	26.	Because road trip raids are fun.
	27.	Because Wanderer is so bad-ass (and selfless) that she sliced her own arm.
	28.	Because Kyle having granola bars thrown at him is funny to picture.
	29.	Because it has an an eccentric old man with a shotgun. (Jeb!)
	30.	Because aside from using humans as hosts, most of the Souls are pretty darn nice.
	31.	Because the story continued after the evil blank pages!
	32.	Because it shows how important love is, and that all the forms it comes in are equally special.
	33.	Because the evil invading aliens aren’t evil, they think they’re doing the right thing.
	34.	Because it makes us ask ‘What does it mean to be human?’
	35.	Because Ian is perfect. (see #8)
	36.	Because Wanderer and Melanie go from hating each other to being best friends.
	37.	Because it gives us hope.
	38.	Because if Ian were so inclined, he thinks he could do better than Jared.
	39.	Because now I flash my flashlight in peoples eyes to see if they glow.
	40.	Because the souls have the best labeling system ever, and it makes us wonder why we don’t do the same.
	41.	Because it made us pity the Seeker for having Lacey as a host.
	42.	Because it taught us to not run with knives.
	43.	Because Ian has the most gorgeous blue eyes.
	44.	Because it shows humans have learned to love everything. No matter how many hundreds of tentacles they have.
	45.	Because Jared puts Sharon in headlock because she’s in a “bad mood.”
	46.	Because Sunny doesn’t want to be a plant.
	47.	Because Kyle likes Sunny even though he can’t get Jodi back.
	48.	Because Sunny promises to look for Jodi so that Kyle can be happy.
	49.	Because Kyle thought Sunny was so sweet and sad that he holds her cryotank rather than letting it sit in the corner.
	50.	Because Ian cradled Wanderer’s cryotank the entire time she was gone and wouldn’t even let Melanie or Jamie touch it.
	51.	Because our humans wouldn’t let Wanderer go.
	52.	Because Ian is Wanderer’s present and future.
	53.	Because in the epilogue Wanderer and Ian share “the most unplatonic kiss possible.”
	54.	Because Melanie got her body back.
	55.	Because Stephenie Meyer says she’s working on sequels.
	56.	Because Jared and Ian are jealous of each other.
	57.	Because Ian uses the word “swine” in an insult.
	58.	Because Melanie tried to commit suicide to save Jared and Jamie.
	59.	Because the weird map of lines that turned out to be the outline of a mountain range was clever.
	60.	Because despite everything, it has a happy ending.
	61.	Because we’re still trying to figure out how the bodies were configured after they healed Jamie and everyone was touching/laying on everyone else.
	62.	Because we love getting to discuss all the different casting options.
	63.	Because it’s Meyer’s first “adult novel.”
	64.	Because whenever someone disagrees with Jeb he reminds them “it’s my house.”
	65.	Because we never realized a cave in the desert could provide a bathing area, a kitchen, separate rooms, a prisoner cell, storage rooms, places to grow crops, and more.
	66.	Because the system of using lots of small mirrors to magnify light underground is ingenious.
	67.	Because Doc is so embarrassed of his real name that he doesn’t reveal is until the end of the book.
	68.	Because the soul’s system of naming medicines like heal and clean is so much simpler than ours.
	69.	Because Jeb’s both "crazy" and a "genius."
	70.	Because Souls are so scared of violence, Wanderer won’t even hold a gun.
	71.	Because it taught us “alien abductions” could actually be real.
	72.	Because a century is nothing. Wanderer is thousands of years older than Ian.
	73.	Because “Her name is Wanda, not it.”
	74.	Because “We girls have to stick together.”
	75.	Because Ian defends Wanderer, even against his own brother.
	76.	Because “life and love go on” even if we don’t always understand why.
	77.	Because Wanderer’s so naive when it comes to love, she’s almost like a child that Melanie has to teach.
	78.	Because souls are so good they aren’t even able to lie.
	79.	Because Ian becomes Wanderer’s protector.
	80.	Because Jared took care of Melanie and Jamie when they were on the run.
	81.	Because Jared didn’t help Melanie in order to be physical with her, even though he hadn’t seen another human in years.
	82.	Because Melanie was willing to risk her safety to try to save her cousin Sharon.
	83.	Because “It’s not the face, but the expressions on it. It’s not the voice, but what you say. It’s not how you look in that body, but the things you do with it. You are beautiful.”
	84.	Because Jared’s kiss brought Melanie back from almost fading away.
	85.	Because Jared loves Jamie like his own brother, so much so that he treats him like family even after he thinks Melanie is dead.
	86.	Because watching Kyle, Ian, and Jared spar with words is so fun.
	87.	Because Wanderer had “a bit of a reputation” on some of her past lives.
	88.	Because no matter how much Ian and Kyle fight, they always go back to fighting affectionately.
	89.	Because Jamie chose Wanderer’s new body “Because she sort of looks like an angel, and you’re good like that.”
	90.	Because “No one is ever sorry for hitting Kyle.”
	91.	Because “I’ll never lose you. I’ll never let you get away from me.”
	92.	Because “Any mark you leave on her, I will double on your worthless hide.”
	93.	Because Kyle stays behind with Sunny instead of going on a raid.
	94.	Because Doc’s “parents were cruel people” who named him “Eustace.”
	95.	Because it’s been more than two years and The Host still rocks our socks.
	96.	Because we dream about what will happen next
	97.	Because Wanderer lied about Pet’s real age.
	98.	Because we where given Wes and Lily (if only for a little while).
	99.	Because in the end, Kyle redeemed himself and we actually liked him.
	100.	Because everyone who reads The Host loves it. (Try to prove us wrong!)
	101.	Because I read it faster the second time to get to the good parts.
	102.	Because you can go from a tribunal that could have ended with a death to a soccer game in mere minutes and only the Soul is confused.
	103.	Because I have it filled with notes in every page.
	104.	Because Wanda feels amazing sensations with great details when she kisses Ian.
	105.	Because Ian gives us hope that there is a human out there as good as Edward.
	106.	Because Jared still worried about “conventions” even though they’re at the end of the world.
	107.	Because Ian kisses Wanderer and has to check “Good or bad?”
	108.	Because when Jared and Melanie had been together for 29 days, it felt like two or three years to her.
	109.	Because: “You never know how much time you’ll have.”
	110.	Because Jared considers sleeping with Melanie, but one reason he doesn’t is he doesn’t want to bring a child to a world like theirs.
	111.	Because Melanie doesn’t want Wanda to go even it means Mel can never return.
	112.	Because we totally would join Jeb’s band of rebels if the Souls took over the Earth.
	113.	Because “I held you in my hands, you were beautiful.”
	114.	Because we cried over Wes’ death even though we barely knew him.
	115.	Because we fell in love with very minor characters like Geoff, Trudy, Heath, and Lily and would love to know more about their stories.
	116.	Because we have real men, not ones that sparkle.
	117.	Because the fans don’t have to combat in ship wars of Ian versus Jared.
	118.	Because Stephenie’s filling in the terrible blank pages with an additional chapter.
	119.	Because even though the beginning was confusing, the end was amazing.
	120.	Because Stephenie didn’t have to do a lot of promotion for the book for us to fall in love with it.
	121.	Because it is good storytelling with real characters that you can love, I laughed and cried and worried all the way through. I can’t wait till the sequel.
	122.	Because it can make you cry, laugh, love and hate all the way through.
	123.	Because “anger is so…ugly.”
	124.	Because “a few more minutes of unconsciousness won’t kill him.”
	125.	Because it makes us think (instead of simply drooling … of course, we do that too.)
	126.	Because even though Ian tried to kill Wanda, he loves her by the end.
	127.	Because the crazy people (*coughcoughJEBcoughcough*) are the only ones left.
	128.	Because all our copies look like they went through a folding machine.
	129.	Because Ian loved Wanderer so much that he’d rather watch her be with another man than leave.
	130.	Because Ian O’Shea is “Kind enough to be a soul but strong as only a human could be.”
	131.	Because of the moment when we all realized that Ian was falling in love with Wanderer.
	132.	Because of the moment Wanderer realized that she loved Ian back.
	133.	Because it made us want a Jared or Ian of our own.
	134.	Because we are still trying to figure out what planet Fords Deep Waters is from.
	135.	Because Wanderer definitely checks Ian out when they are working in the fields and she doesn’t even realize it yet.
	136.	Because every aspect of the book stomps the Twilight series!
	137.	Because “I hope your fairy tales are true. I hope you find your Gladdie.”
	138.	Because Burns Living Flowers is the coolest name ever.
	139.	Because Stephenie Meyer is a awesome author, end of story.
	140.	Because it preaches truth: men are as clueless about birth in books as they are in real life.
	141.	Because “The beginning would feel like the end. I’d been warned.”
	142.	Because Melanie and Wanderer really are soul sisters
	143.	Because I dream of sharing a mattress with Ian during the rainy season.
	144.	Because now I want to drive to Arizona to explore the desert and caves.
	145.	Because at the end Kyle apologized to Wanda and finally accepted her.
	146.	Because it gave my mother-in-law, something to talk candidly about, and anticipate (the movie and please a sequel).
	147.	Because human tenacity shines through perfectly in the story.
	148.	Because I get to lose myself in a new world; a world which makes our problems seem insignificant.
	149.	Because you can read it 100 times and still laugh and cry over the same lines.
	150.	Because Wanda finally snaps about the whole “it” thing.
151.	Because Melanie deposits her faith, hope and beloved ones on Wanda’s hands.
152.	Because I just finished reading the book, and when I look for something new to read, all I want to read is The Host.
153.	Because I got in a fight with my friend cause she didn’t like The Host. (How dare she?)
154.	Because it shows us that the world could be changed to perfect/peaceful, if we were inclined to make it so.
155.	Because the Mists Planet with the Bears and Claw Beasts sounds totally awesome!
156.	Because we really hope Jamie gets a girlfriend in the sequel.
157.	Because we know that Wanda and Ian built their love from nothing, no memories, no feelings that belong to someone else since the beginning… just love.
158.	Because even though it’s over 600 pages, we all still wish it would grow about 400 more.