Danielle Girard with Lara Jones

We are thrilled to welcome Danielle Girard with her new thriller Pinky Swear. She will be joined in conversation with Lara Jones.

Pinky Swear is 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?

"Gripping, emotional, and utterly propulsive, Pinky Swear is the kind of thriller that gets its hooks in from the first page and doesn't let go. Girard masterfully blends past secrets with present stakes in a story that's as much about friendship and motherhood as it is about survival. I tore through it with my heart in my throat." writes Sally Hepworth, New York Times bestselling author of Darling Girls. 

Ashley Winstead, bestselling author of This Book Will Bury Me writes " Pinky Swear is riveting, intense, and unputdownable--your next binge-read. A triumph of character-driven, thrill-packed storytelling that is destined for readers' favorites shelves."

"Pinky Swear delivers a thrilling game of cat and mouse, blurring the lines between friendship and family and creating the kind of high-stakes tension that keeps the pages continually turning. You will genuinely feel for these characters, even when you're unsure of which ones you can trust." writes Stacy Willingham, New York Times bestselling author of Forget Me Not.'

Danielle Girard is the bestselling and award-winning author of several novels, including the Annabelle Schwartzman series. 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.

Lara Jones joined Emily Bestler Books in 2015. Prior to joining the imprint, she held an editorial position at Europa Editions, working on a wide range of critically acclaimed and bestselling novels in translation. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Lara is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course and Seattle University, where she studied English and Italian.

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