The name Ally Carter was chosen to separate her from her other work and the last name Carter was chosen so that her books would be near her fellow adult fiction novelist Jennifer Crusie.

Ally Carter graduated from the Oklahoma State University and Cornell University.Her first book, Cheating at Solitaire, was released in 2005 and tells the story of a famously single self-help guru who becomes very publicly linked to one of Hollywood's hottest up-and-coming male stars.

Carter's first young-adult novel, which was rumored to have been optioned by Disney as a film, was I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, it is the story of a girl who goes to a prestigious spy school and what happens when she falls for a normal boy who has no idea who she really is. It was selected as a Texas Lone Star reading list book for 2007-2008.

Her third novel...the sequel to Cheating at Solitaire...is Learning to Play Gin, which was released in November 2006.

The sequel to I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, titled Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was released in 2007 in the USA. This was the second book of the Gallagher Girls Series and was released on October 2, 2007. It chronicles the second semester of Cammie Morgan's sophomore year and her self-assigned mission against the boys who have moved into her school. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was on the New York Times Bestseller List for 10 weeks. The first two books in the series have now been released in the UK, with a different cover and website.

The third book of the Gallagher Girls series, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, is about Cammie and her friends' efforts to protect their friend Macey after a kidnapping attempt. It was released in June 2009 in the USA and will publish in the UK in January 2011.

Ally's first book separate from the Gallagher Girls is the start of a new young-adult series about a girl named Kat, with the title Heist Society, whose family business is thievery. Kat's father is suspected to have stolen a mafia group boss's paintings. The only way Kat can save her father is by finding who stole them and stealing them back. It was released February 9, 2010.

The fourth book of the Gallagher Girls series, Only the Good Spy Young, is about the aftermath of Cammie discovering that the Circle of Cavan is after her.

Ally is currently at work on the second Heist Society book and the fifth Gallagher Girls book, neither of which have had their title released.The Gallagher Girls series is to be about 6 books in total.

Gallagher Girls Series

• I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Hyperion Books, 2006). ISBN 9781423100034.
• I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Orchard Books, 6 May, 2010). ISBN 9781408309513. UK EDITION
• Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Hyperion Books, October 2, 2007). ISBN 9781423100058.
• Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Orchard Books, 5 August, 2010). ISBN 9781408309520. UK EDITION
• Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Disney-Hyperion, June 9, 2009). ISBN 9781423116387.
• Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Orchard Books, 6 January, 2011). ISBN 9781408309537. UK EDITION
• Only the Good Spy Young (Disney-Hyperion, June 29, 2010)
• Only the Good Spy Young (Orchard Books, 5 May, 2011). ISBN 9781408309544. UK EDITION

Heist Society Series

• Heist Society (Hyperion Books, February 9, 2010). ISBN 9781423116394.

Other books

• Cheating At Solitaire (Berkley Trade, 2005). ISBN 0425205746.
• Learning to Play Gin (Berkley Trade, 2006). ISBN 0425211924.