Authors Interviewing Characters: Danielle Girard

PINKY SWEAR

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?

An Interview with Alexandra “Lexi” McNeil from Pinky Swear by Danielle Girard

Me: Lexi, thank you for sitting down with me. I know this hasn’t been an easy time.

Lexi: No, thank you. It’s actually kind of therapeutic to talk about it all now that I’m home.

Me: Let’s start with the question everyone’s asking: You and Mara hadn’t spoken in over sixteen years when she showed up at your door after leaving an abusive marriage. What made you willing to trust her as your surrogate?

Lexi: I realize that on paper it sounds sort of insane. But there’s this thing with childhood friendships—the really deep ones—where time doesn’t erase what you built together. Mara, Cate, and I… we weren’t just friends who hung out casually. We were each other’s survival system. When you’re that age and you feel like you don’t fit anywhere else, finding your people is everything. That bond doesn’t just disappear. When Mara came back into my life, it wasn’t like starting over but like picking up a conversation we’d paused yesterday.

Me: But sixteen years is a long pause. What made you so certain?

Lexi: I wasn’t certain. Not entirely. But I was desperate, and Mara saw that desperation and she didn’t judge and she didn’t flinch. She didn’t offer pity or platitudes. She offered herself. That’s who Mara is—someone who shows up when it mattered. And honestly? After six failed attempts at having a baby, after watching my marriage strain under the weight of my wanting, I needed to believe in something. In someone.

Me: Speaking of belief—you never executed a surrogacy contract. That’s… unusual.

Lexi: Yeah. My husband reminded me of that more than once. But signing papers felt wrong. Like I was hiring a service instead of accepting a gift. Mara kept calling herself “Womb Auntie” and “Mother Goose”—these ridiculous nicknames that made us laugh. How do you reduce that to legal terms? We had pinky swears, our old notebook, our history. That felt more binding than any contract could be.

Me: Did you regret that decision after she left with the baby?

Lexi: No. A contract wouldn’t have changed what happened. It wouldn’t have prevented Mara from leaving. What it would have done is turn our friendship into a transaction, and she deserved better than that. We both did.

Me: Let’s talk about why becoming a mother mattered so much to you. What was driving that need?

Lexi: My parents lost a baby—my brother Simon—right after he was born. I found out my mom was pregnant by accident when I overheard them talking about how he was going to be their “fresh start.” I was five. I spent my whole childhood feeling like I was the practice run, the prototype they were trying to upgrade. When I couldn’t get pregnant, it felt like proof that I wasn’t supposed to be a mother. That I was fundamentally flawed.

Me: That’s heartbreaking.

Lexi: It was. But it was also fuel. I wanted to prove I could do this differently. That I could be the kind of mother who celebrates her child for who they are, not who I need them to be. Someone present and warm and… alive in a way my parents never were with me.

Me: Tell us about the friend you lost, what would you wish for her to be to your child now?

Lexi: Cate died our senior year of high school. I was so wrapped up in my own world that I missed how much pain she was in. She would have been an incredible mother someday. She was smart, driven, so full of dreams about who she’d become. I imagine her as the aunt who would have pushed my daughter to be fearless, to chase big dreams, to never settle for anyone else’s version of her life.

Me: What do you want people to understand about your story?

Lexi: That motherhood comes in so many forms. That friendship can be as sacred as blood. That trust is a choice you make every day, not a guarantee you get upfront. And that sometimes the people who know us best are the ones who saw us at our worst and loved us anyway. Mara did that for me. Cate did that for both of us. 

Me: One last question: pinky swear. What did that mean to you three?

Lexi: Everything. It was our promise that we’d always tell each other the truth, always show up, always be there. We were just kids making up our own ritual, but it meant more than any contract ever could. Pinky swears were how we said “I see you, I’ve got you, you’re not alone.”

BUY HERE

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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. Her next thriller, Pinky Swear, will be out from the Emily Bestler Imprint of Atria books February 24, 2026. 

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.  

Visit her at www.daniellegirard.com, on Instagram @daniellegirardbooks, or on Facebook @AuthorDanielleGirard.

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Danielle Girard is the USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of several novels, including the Annabelle Schwartzman series and Pinky Swear . She 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.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing