The podcast host and author explores how people interact with strangers and why these exchanges often go wrong, offering tips for more accurate and productive interactions.

In 1825 when Josefina trusts a trader in Santa Fe with an important deal, she makes a surprising discovery about this young American who leaves town without paying her.

"It's 2002, a year after 9/11, and Shirin has just started at yet another school. It's an extremely turbulent time for the world, but also for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. She's tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments--even the physical violence--she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. She decided long ago not to trust anyone anymore, and...

Peyton Shields fears she is being stalked but can't convince anyone else.

"Trust is essential to the foundation of America's democracy, asserts Pete Buttigieg, the former presidential candidate and South Bend mayor. Yet, in a century warped by terrorism, financial collapse, Trumpist populism, systemic racism, and now a global pandemic, trust has been squandered, sacrificed, abused, stolen, or never properly built in the first place. And now, more so than ever before, Americans must work side by side to reckon with the monumental...

Katie has a tough time keeping one secret...what happens when she has to keep four? All of the cupcake girls have secrets and are ready to burst! Katie loves knowing a secret; it's just tough for her to keep them! And in this story all her friends have told her a secret! From new crushes to someone cheating on a math test, Katie doesn't know what to do with all of this juicy information! Can the Cupcake Club survive with everyone keeping secrets from...

"A reserved young woman is drawn into the study of dreams by her high-school love in Benjamin's debut novel. Sylvie is one year away from getting her college degree when her former flame, Gabe, shows up intent on convincing her to join him and Adrian Keller, the charismatic ex-headmaster of their boarding school, in their quest to give people the ability to dream lucidly. Sylvie has never quite gotten over Gabe, who left her, and their boarding school,...

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. When a mysterious child shows up at her cabin, barefoot and covered in bruises, Joanna enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more...

When a lonely young giant discovers a friend in a little girl named Anya, he believes he can trust the other villagers too.

Best friends are there for each other through thick and thin. You trust them with your life. At least that's what Emma, Daisy, Leanne and Al think. But all that changes when they embark on a trip of a lifetime together. When they return home, only two of them are left alive and the group has been torn apart by lies and deception. Many years later, when the dust has settled and life has moved on, one girl receives a threatening letter. Someone knows...