I have a 13 year old mature daughter who has finished all the Twilight books (twice). I am a Twilight mom (buying New Moon movie tickets now!!) but  don't know if Meyers next YA novel is right for her to read.  Any comments???

The Host is not a YA novel. I haven't read it so I can't tell you if it's appropriate, but I do know that it is not YA.

It is technically not a YA book, but I think that is more because of length than anything.  It is not nearly as explicit as the later Twilight books.  There is some reference to before marriage sex, but not descriptive, IMO, and it is within the context of a committed relationship of two adults (barely, lol).  It is a bit violent and shocking in places, but not too bad.  If it were a movie, I think it would be somewhere between PG and PG-13.

It's been a few months since I've read it, so it's possible I'm forgetting something. 

I don't think a mature 13 year old would have a problem with the content, but if you are concerned it might not be appopriate I'd read it first.

I have to say that when I was 13 I was picking out my own books at the library, and I didn't avoid the adult fiction section.  I always visited the children's new book area, browsed the YAs, and then looked at the adult fiction. 

(Also, I thought The Host was about 200 pages too long, but I'm not a fan of Stephenie Meyer's books in general).

I can honestly tell you that I struggled to get through this book... I kept hoping it would get better, ( after reading her Twilight series...)  but I was really disappointed in this one.

I found the story line kind of confusing, and I had a very hard time "connecting" with the main characters.  I'm sorry, but no, I guess I wouldn't recommend it... I told my 13 year old daughter not to bother with this one. 

I think the Host is appropriate for a teen. Like someone said before, there is much less emphasis on sex. I liked the book Twilight well enough to read the whole series, but none of the following books lived up to the first. As a fan of science fiction, The Host was right up my alley. It is just the right mix of romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopia.  I was taken in by the characters and the post-apocalyptic desert setting. I know it is proabably sacriligious to say so, but for me, it was better than Twilight.

  By the way, the week "The Host" came out in stores, I heard an interview with the author. The first point she made was that she didn't think it should have been rated as a YA book, but that's what many bookstores did according to the info in this interview.

I agree with Alaina - I liked The Host more than I liked Twilight.  I definitely think it is appropriate for teens, even young teens really.  It does take a little while to get in to, but I was on a week long bike trip and it was the only book I had with me. :)

Hmm... truth be told, I liked neither series, lol (did you hear that The Host is now to be the first in a series?), but I'll agree that it's appropriate for a teenager, even one as young as a 13-year-old especially if you say your daughter is mature. It's not brilliant writing or storytelling, but if you loved Twilight you will be willing to stick with it, just so that you can discover how it is compared with Twilight. :)

(did you hear that The Host is now to be the first in a series?)

I'm not surprised.  The ending pretty much set up a continuation.

I'd say it is appropriate for that age.  I found it to be much better written than Twilight, and if the sequel ever comes out, I'll definitely read it. 

ETA:  The Host does have some violence, but as far as I remember it's actually less than what's in the Twilight series.

Its also on its way to being a movie.  I'm not sure how I feel about that, what with half the book taking place in the main character's head, but we'll see how it turns out.

I know it's been a while and you've probably already decided if your daughter should read it, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents anyway :)  As a Twilight Mom as well, I would really only caution against the violence in the book.  It was a difficult book for me to get through as far as keeping my attention, though.  It was slow and not really my cup of tea.  I've re-read the book a couple of times now when I've run out of other things to read and it's a little better each time I read it, but it's not in my top books, I can definitely say that much.  It's an interesting concept for a book, though, so your daughter may really enjoy it.