What is the title of your latest release?
PINKY SWEAR
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A woman’s surrogate - and childhood best friend - vanishes days before the baby’s due date, launching a cross-country search that uncovers long-buried secrets, shattered loyalties, and the true cost of love, trust, and betrayal.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The story moves between the characters’ hometown of Denver and Philadelphia where Mara had been living. I wanted the two locations to feel vastly different and for Lexi to feel uncomfortable, coming from her Denver home. I hope that the locations heighten the suspense and help the reader gauge how far she’ll go for her child.
What are three words that describe your main character?
Determined. Loyal. Vulnerable.
Which side character stole your attention the most from the main storyline?
Mara Vannatta, Lexi’s childhood best friend and surrogate, is as complex as she is mysterious. Her choices set everything in motion, forcing readers (and Lexi) to question what love and desperation drives us to do.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that vulnerability is often the bravest thing we can do. Writing PINKY SWEAR reminded me that healing from betrayal requires openness, not isolation.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
A bit of both. Each draft helps me dig deeper emotionally and sharpen the suspense. I work to fine-tune character motivations as their truths emerge.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Coffee and peanut M&Ms though it’s dangerous to take out the candy when I’m writing a tense scene as I’ll eat the whole bag!
Describe your writing space/office
I most often write in my home office. I keep it very warm (75-ish) and uncluttered. There’s lot of natural light and plants and the greenery outside (or white in winter) helps me clear my head when I’m working.
Who is an author you admire?
I really admire writers like Ashley Winstead, Sally Hepworth and Stacy Willingham, who craft thrillers that balance emotion and suspense. Their books remind me that even the most chilling stories have to have heart.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Hmm. That’s tough. There are books that change my life all the time. The most recent is MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman. The way he describes emotions and friendship was so compelling. It felt like taking a writing course.
Tell us about when you got “the call.”
When PINKY SWEAR sold to Atria/Emily Bestler Books, I was over the moon. And when I spoke to my editor, her understanding of what I was trying to do and her thoughts on how to make it even better made me feel like it was absolutely at the right home.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love psychological thrillers and emotional suspense - stories that explore human relationships through high-stakes situations, but I also read a lot of literary fiction as I love to study the way great writers use language.
What’s your favorite movie?
I have a soft spot for thrillers that blend deep emotion with tension, so I’ve loved films like Gone Girl or The Sixth Sense where the characters and plot are equally compelling.
What is your favorite season?
Winter. I find the snow and the cold deeply relaxing and also a great excuse to stay indoors to write (and read).
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With family and friends and reflecting on how fortunate I am to be surrounded by so much love and also for this creative life I get to live.
What’s a recent TV show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m coming back to Fredrik Backman’s MY FRIENDS. It was truly so quiet but so powerful.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Oooh, I love Indian food. I don’t get to enjoy it very often but the curries and the spices are so yummy!
What do you do when you have free time?
Spend time outdoors, travel, and visit family. But I’m also happy to be curled up with a book or talking to an author for Killer Women podcast.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on a new thriller about a woman who discovers her husband’s long affair. It’s a personal story and while it’s not an easy one to write, I’m happy to be digging into the complexities of marriage and family. Like PINKY SWEAR, my stories explore how we rebuild trust after betrayal - and what it truly means to know the people we love most.
Narrator: Rebekkah Ross, Amanda Dolan
From Danielle Girard, the USA TODAY bestselling author who “effortlessly ratchets up the tension” (J.T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author), comes a pulse-pounding thriller about a young woman whose surrogate disappears just days before the baby’s due date, leading to a frantic search that uncovers dark truths and the power of a mother’s love.
Lexi thought she knew everything about Mara Vannatta. Best friends since middle school, they drifted apart after a tragedy derailed their senior year. But when Mara shows up on Lexi’s doorstep sixteen years later fleeing an abusive husband, Lexi takes her in without question. Lexi’s own marriage has been strained by her desire to have a baby, and when Mara offers to become her surrogate, their friendship feels stronger than ever.
But four days before the due date, Mara disappears.
Lexi is shocked but certain there must be something wrong—Mara would never willingly leave with her unborn child. Or would she? As she embarks on a perilous cross-country hunt for the truth, Lexi is forced to reconsider a friendship she thought she knew—and what really happened that terrible night their senior year. How many secrets lie in their shared past, waiting to be uncovered? And just how far will Lexi go to bring her child safely home?
Thriller Domestic [ Atria/Emily Bestler Books, On Sale: February 24, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668096529 / eISBN: 9781668096512 ]
Danielle Girard is the USA Today and Amazon #1 bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the Annabelle Schwartzman Series, Chasing Darkness, and The Rookie Club series. Her books have won the Barry Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, and White Out was in the top 100 bestselling e-books of 2020. In addition, two of her titles have been optioned for screen.
Danielle is also the creator and host of the Killer Women Podcast where she interviews the women who write today's best crime fiction. A graduate of Cornell University, Danielle received her MFA in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. When she's not traveling, Danielle lives in the mountains of Montana.
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