Sara Shepard Books in Order
See all Sara Shepard books in order, with series lists, short summaries, reading order, and tips on where to start with her YA thrillers and adult suspense.
Last updated: December 24, 2025
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Publication Order
45 books
Fall of the Coven
by Sara Shepard
2026
Young witch Agatha Harkness is chasing the Darkhold in 1690s Salem when a rival’s spell hurls her, a meddling crow and the cursed book straight into a modern high school, where saving her coven means surviving teen drama and an ancient enemy.
Nowhere Like Home
by Sara Shepard
2024
New mother Lenna brings her baby to an off the grid desert commune called Halcyon to reconnect with an old friend, but strict rules, a padlocked gate and buried grudges reveal she was invited there for a much darker reason.
Gaslight
by Sara Shepard
2024
Rebecca has built a quiet life in Nevada, hiding the years she spent in a remote spiritual group, until former friend Danny arrives from the cult and pulls her back into a maze of manipulation, mixed loyalties and looming danger.
Penny Draws a School Play
by Sara Shepard
2023
In her second illustrated diary, Penny juggles being cast in the fifth grade play, a looming move and the arrival of baby twins, using humor, letters to her dog and new coping tools to handle her spiraling worries.
Penny Draws a Best Friend
by Sara Shepard
2023
Anxious fifth grader Penny Lowry starts the year excited to reunite with her best friend, only to watch Violet drift toward a new clique, forcing Penny to lean on doodles, her feelings teacher and unexpected friends.
Wait for Me
by Sara Shepard
2022
College student Casey seems to have it all until a whispering voice and flashes of a life she does not remember push her toward a sleepy beach town and a boy who insists he knows her by another name.
Safe In My Arms
by Sara Shepard
2021
Three new mothers at an elite California preschool receive anonymous notes threatening to expose their pasts, then find themselves at the scene of a violent attack on the principal, forcing them to work together to uncover who is framing them.
Memory Lane
by Sara Shepard
2021
Teenager Alex agrees to have fragments of her mother Cassie’s memories implanted in her brain, then embarks on a road trip to retrace the past, only to discover that the memories they share do not quite match what really happened.
Influence
by Sara Shepard
2020
Sixteen year old Delilah’s viral rescue video launches her into the Los Angeles influencer world, where new friendships, staged relationships and a shocking death make her question how much of anyone’s picture perfect life is real.
Reputation
by Sara Shepard
2019
When a hacker dumps thousands of private emails from Aldrich University and beloved surgeon Greg Strasser is found murdered, reporter Willa returns home to help her sister Kit sift through scandals, grudges and lies to catch a killer.
The Elizas
by Sara Shepard
2018
Pulled from the bottom of a Palm Springs pool in what looks like another suicide attempt, Eliza insists someone pushed her, and as she investigates she realises scenes from her soon to be published novel echo memories she cannot fully trust.
Last Seen
by Sara Shepard
2018
In the final Amateurs novel, Aerin is kidnapped by the murderer who destroyed her family, and Seneca, Maddox and Madison must solve a separate child abduction and a twisted scavenger hunt before time runs out for their friend.
Follow Me
by Sara Shepard
2017
When social media star Chelsea Dawson vanishes after a Jersey Shore party, Seneca and her friends notice her eerie resemblance to Aerin’s murdered sister and chase a new trail that suggests their original killer is hunting again.
The Amateurs
by Sara Shepard
2016
True crime obsessed Seneca Frazier meets fellow Case Not Closed users in an upscale Connecticut town to dig into Helena Kelly’s unsolved disappearance and quickly discovers that the killer she has studied for years is watching them in real time.
The Good Girls
by Sara Shepard
2015
In the sequel to The Perfectionists, Mackenzie, Ava, Caitlin, Julie and Parker realise Nolan’s death was only the beginning when other people from their revenge list start dying exactly the way they once joked about killing them.
Vicious
by Sara Shepard
2014
The Pretty Little Liars face a final, high profile trial that could send them to prison for life, even as one last A plot forces each girl to decide how far she is willing to go to protect the others.
Toxic
by Sara Shepard
2014
Cleared in court but branded killers online, the four liars try to rebuild their lives while a new round of toxic messages and public shaming suggests Alison or another enemy is still out there pulling the strings.
The Perfectionists
by Sara Shepard
2014
Five Beacon Heights overachievers jokingly plot the perfect revenge on golden boy Nolan Hotchkiss, then panic when he turns up dead in exactly the way they imagined and the police realise each girl had a reason to want him gone.
The Heiresses
by Sara Shepard
2014
When glamorous jewelry heiress Poppy Saybrook dies in an apparent suicide, her cousins receive a chilling warning and must untangle generations of Saybrook family scandals to learn whether a curse or a calculated killer is targeting them.
True Lies
by Sara Shepard
2013
In this prequel novella, Sutton Mercer reels after her secret boyfriend Thayer disappears, rebounds with handsome Garrett and battles her sister Laurel for control of the Lying Game, turning a summer of pranks into something far more personal.
Seven Minutes in Heaven
by Sara Shepard
2013
In the final Lying Game novel, Sutton’s body is discovered and Emma becomes the prime suspect in her twin’s murder, forcing her to unmask the real killer before the police, or the person who ended Sutton’s life, silence her for good.
Deadly
by Sara Shepard
2013
As Rosewood turns on them, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer are dragged into police interrogations, cut off by family and pushed toward trial while A orchestrates a plan that could finally put the Pretty Little Liars behind bars.
Crushed
by Sara Shepard
2013
With prom approaching and A more ruthless than ever, the liars decide to hunt their tormentor, chasing sketchy bloggers, hospital clues and dangerous boyfriends in a high stakes game that could crush them before they reach the truth.
Cross My Heart, Hope to Die
by Sara Shepard
2013
Emma has grown frighteningly good at living Sutton Mercer’s life, but when their birth mother Becky suddenly reappears in Tucson, buried lies surface and Emma must pick apart her family’s past before the killer uses Becky to expose her.
Ali's Pretty Little Lies
by Sara Shepard
2013
This prequel steps inside Alison DiLaurentis's head before her disappearance, revealing how she chose her friends, built her queen bee image and hid the dangerous secrets that will later shatter Rosewood and the Pretty Little Liars.
Two Truths and a Lie
by Sara Shepard
2012
Emma is sure Thayer Vega holds the key to Sutton’s death, but as she digs into her twin’s forbidden relationship with him, she risks exposing her own identity and provoking a dangerous new move from the person watching them both.
The First Lie
by Sara Shepard
2012
This digital prequel shows how Sutton’s supposed prank on her best friend’s brother Thayer turns into a secret romance, marking the first real lie that sets the deadly Lying Game in motion.
Stunning
by Sara Shepard
2012
Emily hides a life changing secret while Aria, Spencer and Hanna juggle new romances and leads on Alison, but every attempt to move on only gives A more ammunition in another round of stunning betrayals.
Pretty Little Secrets
by Sara Shepard
2012
Set over the Liars' winter break, this companion novel follows Spencer, Emily, Aria and Hanna through secret vacations, crushes and disasters while a new watcher studies their every move and prepares to take over the A game.
Hide and Seek
by Sara Shepard
2012
New clues in Sutton’s murder send Emma beyond Tucson and deeper into the Mercer family’s secrets, where every ally looks suspect and the Lying Game’s elaborate pranks start to blur with the killer’s own twisted sense of fun.
Burned
by Sara Shepard
2012
A luxury cruise is supposed to give the liars a break from Rosewood, yet as the ship sails into open water, threatening messages and near fatal accidents prove that A has followed them onto the ocean.
Twisted
by Sara Shepard
2011
A spring break trip to Jamaica ends in a terrible accident the girls swear never to discuss, but back in Rosewood a fresh wave of texts makes it clear someone else knows what really happened on that rooftop.
Ruthless
by Sara Shepard
2011
Haunted by what happened in Jamaica, the liars each try to clean up their lives, only to find themselves stalked in rehab clinics, church groups and modeling gigs by an A who seems more ruthless than ever.
Never Have I Ever
by Sara Shepard
2011
Still pretending to be Sutton, Emma juggles school, friends and cruel Lying Game traditions while fresh clues drag her into desert parties, family scandals and close calls with a killer who always seems one step ahead.
Wanted
by Sara Shepard
2010
The revelation that Alison had a secret twin sister blows open the case that has defined Rosewood, forcing Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer to question everything they thought they knew about that long ago summer.
The Lying Game
by Sara Shepard
2010
Foster kid Emma Paxton discovers an identical twin she never knew, Sutton Mercer, only to arrive in Arizona and find Sutton missing and a stranger demanding she take her place while she hunts for her sister’s killer.
Heartless
by Sara Shepard
2010
Sent in wildly different directions by parents and police, the liars are determined to prove they are not crazy or cruel, but each new vision, clinic stay and family revelation only seems to make them look more heartless.
Everything We Ever Wanted
by Sara Shepard
2010
After a student dies in a suspected hazing at the elite school her family founded, Main Line widow Sylvie Bates McAllister must confront what she owes to her troubled adopted son, her golden child and the carefully curated family image.
The Visibles / All The Things We Didn't Say
by Sara Shepard
2009
Science minded Summer Davis puts her own plans aside to care for her unraveling father and sharp tongued great aunt, while she digs into family secrets that might explain both their illnesses and her missing mother.
Killer
by Sara Shepard
2009
A new body, a mysterious girl in Alison’s old house and shocking accusations from the police push the four friends to the breaking point as they start to wonder if Ali might be alive and out for revenge.
Wicked
by Sara Shepard
2008
The liars think A is gone, but a new round of threats tied to Alison’s tangled family tree proves the game is far from over and that someone even more wicked may be watching them.
Unbelievable
by Sara Shepard
2008
In this climactic early installment, the girls’ secrets explode in courtrooms, rehab and hospital rooms as they finally come face to face with the first person behind A and learn how far betrayal can go in Rosewood.
Perfect
by Sara Shepard
2007
Spencer risks everything for a stolen essay, Hanna starves herself back into popularity, Emily struggles with her first real girlfriend and Aria juggles older men, all while A tightens the screws on their supposedly perfect lives.
Flawless
by Sara Shepard
2007
As the anonymous messages intensify, suspicion falls on loner Toby Cavanaugh and the girls are forced to revisit the cruel prank that blinded his stepsister Jenna, even while their own romances and lies spin out of control.
Pretty Little Liars
by Sara Shepard
2006
Three years after queen bee Alison vanishes, her four ex best friends are shoved back together when her body is found and someone calling themselves A starts texting secrets only Alison was supposed to know.
Where should I start?
If you want the classic teen thriller experience: Pretty Little Liars → Flawless → Perfect → Unbelievable.
If you like identity swap mysteries: The Lying Game → Never Have I Ever → Two Truths and a Lie → Hide and Seek → Cross My Heart, Hope to Die → Seven Minutes in Heaven.
If you prefer a compact, true crime style YA arc: The Amateurs → Follow Me → Last Seen.
If you are in the mood for adult domestic suspense: Everything We Ever Wanted → The Heiresses → Reputation → Safe in My Arms → Nowhere Like Home.
If you are choosing for a younger reader (~8–12): Penny Draws a Best Friend → Penny Draws a School Play.
Author bio
Sara Shepard grew up in Pennsylvania thinking she might be a filmmaker, a Lego designer, or an artist long before she imagined being a novelist. She was born in 1977 and spent her childhood in the suburbs outside Philadelphia with her parents and younger sister Alison.
As a kid she filled notebooks with stories, comics and invented soap operas, then studied more practical subjects in school. After graduating from Downingtown High School, she headed to New York University, where she earned a degree and soaked up the city's mix of fashion, gossip and late night people watching.
Shepard later completed an MFA in creative writing at Brooklyn College.
While she was paying rent, she worked in a custom publishing division of a major media company, helping produce glossy lifestyle magazines for big brands. On the side she began ghostwriting and experimenting with the kinds of twisty, character driven plots she liked to read, slowly figuring out the kind of mysteries she wanted to tell.
Those experiments eventually grew into Pretty Little Liars. Inspired in part by her own years in Chester County suburbia, the series started as a sharp, dark take on four girls whose secrets are catching up with them. What began as a handful of books about Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily grew into a long running series, a television adaptation and a full blown franchise.
She followed that success with more young adult mysteries. The Lying Game centers on separated twins and a dangerous identity swap. The Perfectionists and its sequel The Good Girls imagine what happens when high achieving students jokingly plan a murder and someone carries it out. With The Amateurs, Shepard leaned into true crime culture, sending a group of message board sleuths after a cold case that becomes very personal.
Alongside the teen thrillers, she has written a steady stream of novels for adults. The Visibles and Everything We Ever Wanted dig into family history, mental illness and the weight of expectations. Later books such as The Heiresses, The Elizas, Reputation, Safe in My Arms, Wait for Me and Nowhere Like Home move between wealthy suburbs, college towns and desert communes, always circling secrets that threaten the lives people have carefully built.
Shepard also likes to experiment with form. She has co written influencer centered stories like Influence, collaborated on audio and podcast projects including Memory Lane, and stepped into the Marvel corner of pop culture with Agatha Harkness: Fall of the Coven. Her work often crosses media, and several of her ideas have shown up as television series and scripted audio along with the books.
In recent years she has turned some of her attention to younger readers with the illustrated Penny Draws books, about an anxious fifth grader who uses doodles and conversations with a feelings teacher to get through the day. The tone is warmer and sillier than her murder mysteries, but it still carries her interest in how secrets and small misunderstandings can loom large.
She continues to live and work in Pennsylvania, usually with a dog at her feet and another complicated plot unfolding on the screen in front of her.
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