Anna Akbari took us on a JOURNEY with her stranger-than-fiction memoir about how a stranger can be ... fiction. A feisty young sociologist in the early days of online dating, Akbari began chatting with a witty New Yorker named Ethan. Ethan’s lofty job meant lots of travel, long hours, and an Irish phone that made email and text his sole methods of communication. Anna fell hard for his clever, sexy messages—irresistibly voiced by Justin Price, the perfect complement to Akbari’s own narration. But as their intimacy deepened, Ethan’s excuses to avoid meeting raised major red flags. The catfishing memoir to end all catfishing memoirs, There Is No Ethan will have you listening compulsively—just don’t google the case until you finish, for maximum effect.

Hosted by author and dating expert Gabi Conti, this Audible Original podcast offers a down-to-earth take on dating strangers and red flags to take seriously when getting to know a potential romantic partner. In each episode, Conti features a guest with a real-life dating disaster story and then analyzes what went wrong, with attention to the clear warning signs of danger that were either misread or dismissed. Is that sweet, goofy guy just socially awkward or a sociopath? Is that striking woman a narcissist or simply confident? Could you be a victim of catfishing, "dogfishing," or something far worse? This is a great podcast if you want to learn from other people's dating horror stories and feel comforted and empowered embarking on your own first dates.

This stunning memoir about love, identity, and domestic abuse is an absolute must-listen. Experimental in structure, Carmen Marie Machado’s short chapters and various literary devices tell the story of her two years in graduate school, when she fell for a beguiling woman who turned abusive. She reveals the emotional abuse and manipulation she endured while also analyzing why instances of domestic abuse between queer couples are rarely revealed or explored in literature. Machado narrates this mesmerizing work, which is an important addition to the canon of queer memoirs.

The inspiration for the Amazon Original docuseries, Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, The Phantom Prince is Elizabeth Kendall’s cult-classic 1981 memoir detailing her six-year relationship with one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. With a new introduction and afterword by the author and a startling chapter from her daughter, Molly, Kendall's memoir details her intimate relationship with Bundy, starting with its charming beginning and leading to a shocking unraveling. This gripping account presents a remarkable examination of a charismatic personality that masked unimaginable darkness.