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.

Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. The houseowners, Ruth and G. H., arrive in the middle of the night in a panic. They say a sudden blackout has swept the city: the TV and internet are down, and no cell phone service. Is the vacation...

"When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she'll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she's thinking...and what she's hiding."--

"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...

Hadley St. Clair and Sam Bennett are teenagers caught up in the grip of their mutual attraction--but adultery, family secrets, and betrayal threaten to drive them apart.

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,...

When the delicate balance between the mythical rabbits and the people of Montpeyroux breaks down, runt Quincy and twelve-year-old Fleurine learn to trust each other to ensure their respective community's survival.

In the final book of the Wizard for Hire trilogy, Ozzy and his friend (and Rins daughter), Sigi, are in danger. They are still being hunted by Ray, the power-mad villain who will stop at nothing to find the formula to the mind-controlling discipline serum - one that Ozzys parents created and injected into him. Knowing the dangers that lie ahead, Rin introduces Ozzy to four more friends who also claim magical, wizard-like abilities. Again, Ozzy has...

When there is no oil for Chanukah, Hayim, the poorest man in the village, sends the Almighty a letter, asking for help.