Rune Michaels

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Leia doesn't remember what it's like to feel safe. Maybe back before the accident and the death of her parents, but even those memories are scarred by a secret too awful for words. Even though her aunt tries to provide a safe home, Leia's brother, Brian's, anger always seems to find her. Yes, maybe she invites it sometimes, but it seems that she is broken and can't control the impulse to add to her pain.

When Leia accidentally show more discovers that Brian is a cutter, too, she thinks perhaps this common bond will change his feelings toward her. However, in her heart she knows nothing is likely to change, and when she is confronted by the stranger who claims to know her and her story, she makes a sudden decision to run.

Leia ends up in the only place that offers her peace - the zoo. Her fascination with elephants leads her there. Her dreams of the gentle power of the huge animals and their ability to protect as well as destroy draw her to the elephant enclosure. After a day spent watching these amazing creatures, Leia is determined to find a way to stay at the zoo indefinitely.

It takes two days for someone to discover her illegal living arrangements. Kyle is the son of the zoo director. He confronts Leia but doesn't learn much about her or the reason for her presence. He does see her as an answer to his problem - endless chores assigned by his mother as punishment for his habit of hanging with the wrong crowd. Together, Kyle and Leia form a team. She helps him with his chores and covers for him so he can escape his mother's supervision, and he keeps quiet about her living in the zoo.

The arrangement is nearly perfect. Leia is able to spend time up close and personal with the animals she loves in return for food, clothing, and a place where she finally feels safe. However, like anything too good to be true, she eventually must face her brother and the reality that she doesn't really belong. When her situation begins to crumble and she must face the memories of her past, she finds she has a tougher skin than she imagined, both literally and figuratively.

Author Rune Michaels paints a stark picture of an abusive family and the devastating toll on its victims. Readers are sure to sympathize with Leia as they observe her gentle care and appreciation of the animals at the same time as they witness her fear of returning to her broken life. show less

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Daisy has never quite come to terms with her mother's death. Though she's told the kids at school tons of stories about hospitals and chemotherapy, she refuses to discuss it with the therapist she's been seeing. And when she starts hearing her mother's voice, she can't help but hope there's some way her mother's still alive.

What Daisy stumbles on in her search is both stranger and more complicated that she could possibly have imagined. Now she has to show more figure out how to deal with the secret her father's been hiding, and the secrets she's been holding deep inside herself.

How far will she go to hold on to what seems to be her last real tie to the mother she never wanted to lose?

THE REMINDER captures the feelings of loss and mourning perfectly, the gloom that hangs over Daisy's life running through every page. Yet it's far from depressing -- it's a story of survival and hope, about living on and letting go. Readers will sympathize with Daisy's struggle, and follow the mystery eagerly to the final page. The revelation at the end is somewhat abrupt, but looking back, Michaels has done an excellent job of setting it up.

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how a modern family deals with the death of one of its members. show less

Max and his older brother share a connection that few people could ever understand. When his brother was a child, he was sick with cancer and nothing was working to cure him. After running out of options, Max was conceived. Not literally, he was created, a test-tube baby, "designed" and hand-picked to match his brother on a genetic level, so that he can be a cure for his brother's cancer.

Now Max is a teenager, and his older brother has been arrested and accused of a horrific crime. Through show more this tragic and trying time Max is forced to consider the meaning of right and wrong and explore the lines between biology and philosophy, while facing the darker shades of humanity in the process.

I really like Alpha Genesis. I didn't know what to expect when I went into it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the serious tones throughout the story. Rune Michaels explores a lot of social and ethical issues in book, and she does a fantastic job weaving it into an interesting story. I only wish it was a little bit longer, but as usual it's not always such a bad thing when an author leaves you wishing for more. Either way, it's a nice, quick, and insightful read that I'm glad to have discovered. show less

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

There's a quote on the front of GENESIS ALPHA from author Kenneth Oppel: "Dark, dangerous, and utterly riveting." I couldn't agree more. The words "a thriller" are what convinced me to pick up the book; the fact that I was so deeply engrossed in the story and superb writing were what kept me reading for the next few hours as I devoured it in one sitting.

Josh is a typical teen who isn't actually, well, typical. Although he's like any number of teen boys in show more that the better part of his day is spent playing an online computer game named Genesis Alpha, and that he aspires to grow up to be just like his older brother, Max, and even has a pretty normal home life, there's one thing that sets him apart from everyone else - Josh is a "designer baby."

Specifically created in the hopes of saving his brother from a deadly form of cancer, Josh was once a small group of cells that were chosen because of their genetic makeup. When he was born, the healing cells from his umbilical cord were transplanted into his brother, and Max eventually became cancer-free. So the bond between these two brothers is stronger than most.

Except now Josh's world is falling apart. Where he once thought everything about his life was, if not routine than at least normal, now he's discovering that things are never really what they seem. Max has been accused of a horrible crime - murdering a college girl. His father, a psychologist, and his mother, a biologist, are just as shocked as Josh is when they learn the charges against their oldest child. After all of the years of watching Max fight for life, and the tears and turmoil of waiting to see if Josh would be his cure, now he's sitting in jail, facing murder charges? The entire family is in shock.

Josh, though, more than any of them, is finding out things that he wishes he had never known. There's a strange girl hiding out in the cat shed behind their house, and the story she has to tell him is one he at first rejects outright, and later has no choice but to take as fact. And it all revolves around Genesis Alpha, the game that both Josh and Max devoted so much time to. How is it that something that brought Josh so much joy could be the very thing that will show him the horrors of the world - and the deceitful double life of his brother?

Rune Michaels has written a chillingly good thriller with GENESIS ALPHA. With action that never stops, a storyline that is all too believable, and flawless writing, she has managed to write a story that will captivate you from the first page. With Josh and Max, she has created a bond that was created by science and will be tested with pure human compulsion - and the existence of evil. This is a great read for anyone who loves a good thriller. I personally can't wait to read more stories in this vein from the very talented Ms. Michaels. show less