This is the fifth in the JournalStone Press series known as Doubledown, in which two short novels are combined in one volume. The first novel, and by far the weaker, is Secrets by John R.Little in which two teenagers who have the ability to stop time and walk through a stopped world, doing whatever they wish. Unfortunately, the characters are shallow and underdeveloped, and same can be said about the plot.
The second novel, Outcast by Mark Allan Gunnells, is better. Two teenagers (again) meet and develop strong feelings for one another. Unfortunately the girl is just discovering that she is a witch, and the boy is, in fact, a ghost! Throw in the boy's mother (another witch) and the theme of reincarnation, and the result is a fairly interesting tale. ( )

These two stories, though sharing the main character's names, and some paragraphs verbatim, turned out to be WORLDS apart. The first was a quick/ disturbing read about two kids that can move around in between moments, they are able to do things while everyone else is stuck in time. Bobby Jersey and Karen don't always walk through time standstills together and they both like to use their "spare" time very differently. Karen starts off by snooping on her neighbors and friends but then quickly begins to do good deeds for anyone she can. Bobby on the other hand is psychotic and it doesn't get any better as the years pass. The main thing I kept thinking while reading was "man, this is so F'd up!!"
The second story has Karen and Bobby together again but staring in VERY different roles. I won't ruin any of the story with spoilers but it also had its dark moments and you end up loving Bobby instead of loving watching Bobby suffer like you do in the first story. The stories were riddled with typos and incomplete sentences, which was very distracting and detracted from the experience, but what I noticed most was how deftly each writer took some common basic facts and ran in totally opposite directions with them.
Overall it was interesting to see how the stories diverged but ultimately not my cup of tea seeing as how I was counting the pages hoping it would surprise me and end abruptly. ( )

This review is for the book that contained the story entitled Secrets and the story entitled Outcast. I was intrigued by the premise of having two authors begin with the same opening and then seeing where each would take the story. Secrets, frankly, just wasn’t my kind of story. It involved displaying the worst behavior in its characters with little or no redeeming values. I do not expect or want a morality play where issues are black and white and good must always triumph over all. I actually enjoy dark and complex stories when they raise issues that I find interesting and thought-provoking. However, I failed to find anything in this story other than the illustration of a series of reprehensible actions by a couple of unlikable characters. I found Outcast to be more enjoyable. It was far from a perfect story, and it seemed more like an early attempt at what might eventually be a decent YA book. The characters and premise were intriguing, but most of the twists, while interesting, were telegraphed. There needed to be more depth and complexity in the writing, but I think there is a solid seed of a story here. ( )

**I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review**

A collection of two stories: "Secrets" by John R. Little, and "Outcast" by Mark Allan Gunnels.
Both books are interesting in that they both start with the same prologue, and have the same two main characters: Karen Richardson and Bobby Jersey. This is where the similarities end. The stories are completely different, one involves a girl who can stop time, the other involves a girl who has great magic power.

Secrets: A young girl who at random times experiences time stopping all around her. In this time she likes to go exploring. Eventually she finds herself enjoying going to the neighbor's houses to see what kind of dirty little secrets they are hiding. Upon snooping around her house, she finds a great secret that her father has been hiding that makes her cringe. Upon meeting Bobby Jersey she is at first attracted to the boy, feeling a friendship brewing. But she also feels there is something sick and twisted about him. What might it be?

Outcast: Karen is attending college, with a work-study job at the university library. She has grown a fond likeness to the librarian, Penelope. There has always been something about her that has made the two of them connect on a deeper level. As it turns out they are both witches. One day she meets Bobby. She is instantly attracted to him. They become great friends. It is soon revealed that Bobby is a ghost, and Karen will do anything in her power to give him life, a new body, so they can be together as they should be. Does she succeed? The story may be more complicated than you think.

Secrets/ Outcasts is a Double Down book from Journalstone publishing. This book is told by two different authors: John R. Little and Mark Allan Gunnells. This book is about Karen Richardson and her life, from two different realities. Karen Richardson can occasionally stop time. She can move around while others are frozen. ( )