The Hostess

By: Cat Oyster

Narrated by: Susan Spano

In a near-future gig economy, her body is not her own. While asleep, strangers rent Michaela’s body to experience life through her senses—virtual tourists who step into her skin from across the world.

It’s seamless. Harmless. Voluntary. Until it’s not. When Michaela wakes with unexplained bruises, she and her coworker at the body-hosting agency start asking questions they were never meant to ask.

Who’s really using their bodies? And what are they doing while the hosts sleep? When your body is just another platform, what happens when you lose control of it?

A taut, thought-provoking novelette for fans of Black Mirror, Klara and the Sun, and Severance.

©2015, 2025 Catherine Oyster (P)2025 Catherine Oyster

what if your job was renting your body?

This has been a very short read, its a dystopian world where people rent their body for other people to experience a different reality of their own... at least this is how the story is sold to the people renting their bodies, so its all for the greater good, or is it? Our main character Michaela awakes after a shift with strange bruises and no recollection of what took place but that is not strange.. she takes some “drugs” to make her go into her shift in a more pleasant way and when she complains the dose is adjusted but that is not a good thing..

I cant really enter in details or I will spoil the story for other people, but I was lucky enough to get to listen to the audiobook, and it was a good experience, Susan Spano did a good job reading it, and the main character best friend she had an accent that I, and maybe wrongly point to belong to Queens haha yeah I am a Fran Fine fan, because of that It was easy to know who was talking when they were talking. That being said, this was a nice experience, the story was scary, because I feel we walk for a society as such and its not a good feeling,so I recommend for you to grab a copy and enjoy this dystopian story for yourself.

I got a free audible code from Librarything, and this is my honest opinion.

This Book Has Only ONE Flaw

I had the opportunity to listen to The Hostess recently while flying, and I found myself really entranced by the story and its characters. It was a truly engaging listen from start to finish. The story pulled me in quickly and kept me invested throughout. The characters were diverse, and the plot (and ending) did not feel rehashed or refurbished from stories I had heard before. It felt very original! As an audiobook, it works especially well because the pacing felt natural and the tension builds beautifully with each chapter.

What really stood out to me was how immersive the experience felt. The narration adds depth and personality to the story, bringing the characters to life and making the emotional beats land even more strongly, all without feeling overacted or like caricatures of themselves. It’s the kind of audiobook that makes it easy to lose track of time because you just want to keep listening. I had only two chapters left when I got off the plane, and I was disappointed that I needed to wait until I was home to pick it back up again and finish it uninterrupted.

A compelling and highly enjoyable audiobook experience all around. I just wished it were longer!

Compelling story& excellent reading!!

I Just finished the audio book for the hostess. It was excellent. Such a compelling story & audio book reading was so well done. My only complaint was that it was too short!!

Very dystopian and sad audiobook

Good narration—perfect timing, but not much variation between the characters. I ends abruptly and leaves ending to the imagination and I find this dissatisfying. Received this audio book as part of the Early Reviewer’s program on Library Thing.com.