Okay so I just finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and even though I didn't thoroughly enjoy her first series I have to say this book is much better. Of course that is just my opinion. So if you were going to give her a second or a first chance this would be the book that I would recommend.
First of all the main character was much more like-able this time around, maybe that was because she was an alien being and therefore normalcy was not to be expected. Perhaps I liked her for her failings, instead of wanting to shoot her for them. I am totally thinking of you Bella!
The group of humans that make up this band of unlikely allies all have their faults as well but most of them is like-able to a certain degree. Of course one of my biggest issues with the last series I read by her was the lack of character development and this time it was more than made up for in this book. Which lest I confuse anyone is not actually a series.
I am getting way ahead of myself here though so I should start at the beginning. Basically the book is about a "soul" being put into an unwilling host body. There is a small band of humans left in this world who are trying their best to survive. Eventually because the spirit of one human girl who will not go down without a fight the soul is driven to find this girl's human companions. When she does what she sees and begins to feel for these humans frightens her and changes the way she feels about their occupation of the planet.