If you were drawn to Ellie and Morris falling for each other despite the Ilori occupation and a ban on art, you’ll love how The Host builds a relationship between Melanie/Wanderer and Jared in a world already subdued by body‑snatching aliens. Like Ellie’s secret library and Morris’s obsession with human music, the story hinges on forbidden intimacy and empathy across species—forcing its lovers to choose who they are when survival says otherwise.

Loved how The Sound of Stars focused on Ellie and Morris—their conversations about music, freedom, and what makes us human—more than on gadgets and hard science? The Weight of the Stars does the same. Ryann helps Alexandria chase faint messages from a starship mother, and the book leans into quiet moments, found family, and the kind of everyday courage Ellie shows when she keeps a banned library alive.

If Ellie sneaking books under Ilori rule and the road trip to deliver a message hooked you, The 5th Wave offers that same desperate pushback against invasion. Cassie navigates a shattered America after successive alien strikes, dodging collaborators and uncovering plans the way Ellie and Morris peel back Ilori secrets. The stakes feel similarly immediate: one teen’s choices could tip survival for the people she loves.

If you enjoyed trading chapters between Ellie and Morris—his wonder at human art, her fierce defiance—and watching their bond deepen, These Broken Stars uses the same intimate, alternating narration. Stranded together after a disaster, Lilac and Tarver must survive a hostile world while discovering unsettling truths, echoing the way Ellie and Morris confront what the Ilori are really doing and how that reshapes their relationship.

If Ellie’s perspective as a Black teen resisting cultural erasure—and the tenderness between her and Morris—moved you, The Kindred channels that same heart. Joy and Duke Felix, bonded across class lines, flee a galactic conspiracy to a backwater planet and learn from each other the way Ellie and Morris do through books and music. It’s warm, hopeful, and deeply human even among the stars.