Sarah Ahiers Books in Order

Sarah Ahiers is a fantasy writer based in Minnesota, best known for the YA duology Assassin's Heart and Thief's Cunning. Those books introduced readers to the kingdom of Lovero, a place of assassin families, restless ghosts, and loyalties that never stay simple.

Her path to writing started early. She has said she was making up stories in middle school with her twin, then fell hard for fanfiction, especially stories inspired by Ronin Warriors. That mix of play, obsession, and learning by doing seems to have shaped the way she came to the craft.

She was writing long before publishing was the goal.

Ahiers studied English with an emphasis in creative writing, and for a while writing had to share space with the rest of life. She has said she stepped away from being a writer for a couple of years around 2005, then found her way back. By 2009, she was writing seriously and querying novels, which meant learning patience the hard way.

A big turning point came with Hamline University, where she earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. During her first residency there, she received an offer of representation on the third day, then more offers before the residency ended. About a month later, the manuscript sold to HarperTeen. It is the kind of story that sounds made up, but it wasn't.

That debut became Assassin's Heart in 2016, followed by Thief's Cunning in 2017. The two books, both Minnesota Book Award finalists, make up a complete fantasy duology. The first follows Lea Saldana, a teenage assassin bent on revenge after her family is destroyed. The second jumps eighteen years ahead and turns to Allegra Saldana, who has to sort through the secrets and damage left behind.

Readers who click with Ahiers often seem to like the same mix: action, romance, dangerous family politics, and worldbuilding with rules that matter. In her Lovero books, religion, murder, ghosts, and social status are tightly connected, so even the most personal choices have public consequences. She also returns again and again to questions of loyalty, apology, freedom, and what people owe the ones they love.

Family is the thread she keeps pulling.

Ahiers has described fantasy as her favorite genre, but she also writes middle grade work and occasionally wanders into picture books or horror. After finishing her MFA, she joined the adjunct faculty in the MFA program at Concordia University, Saint Paul. In 2023, she became program administrator for Hamline's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, which feels like a neat full-circle turn.

These days she still lives in Minnesota with her siblings, dogs, and what she has called a house full of critters. She has a fondness for steampunk hats, good games, good food, and embroidery, details that make her public bio feel a little more human and a little less polished. That suits her books, too. They may be full of killers and ghosts, but they are grounded in people, families, and messy feelings.