Crosswinds Books in Order

The Crosswinds books in Ann H. Gabhart's bibliography are not a single continuing saga with one cast and one timeline. They are two early young adult novels published in the Crosswinds line, and they are best thought of as companion-style reads linked by tone. Both books focus on teenagers who feel a little out of step with the people around them. Both bring in secrecy, uncertainty, and a strong emotional undercurrent. And both are more inward and suspenseful than their sweet covers might make you expect.

Gifting starts with Ginny, a girl who has always felt different from the rest of her family. That feeling of not quite fitting becomes the engine of the story. Gabhart uses that setup to explore identity, belonging, and the uneasy sense that the truth about your life may be sitting just outside your reach. The tension comes less from action than from what Ginny begins to suspect and what those suspicions might mean.

Then A Kindred Spirit moves even closer to the uncanny.

That novel follows shy, artistic Erin, who has spent years being told that Nicky, the childhood companion she kept sketching, was imaginary. When Nicky seems to return, Erin has to decide whether to trust her own memory and instincts or accept everyone else's version of reality. Rick, a new friend who actually believes her, becomes important not just as a possible romance but as someone who helps her search for the truth.

What these books share is a gentle but steady air of unease. Gabhart's protagonists are not flashy rebels. They are thoughtful teens who get pulled into situations that make them question family stories, private memories, and the way other people define them. That gives the books a quieter kind of suspense. The stakes feel personal first, dramatic second.

They are YA stories, but they are not disposable ones.

If you are coming to these books from Gabhart's later historical fiction, the setting and age group will feel different, yet the emotional interests are already there. She is still drawn to outsiders, to people trying to name what is true, and to the moment when affection and trust become part of the answer. The romances are present, but they are not the whole point. So are the mysteries, but the mysteries are tied to the characters' sense of self.

That makes the Crosswinds pair a nice glimpse of an earlier phase of her writing life. They are compact, personal, a little eerie, and very much interested in the hidden corners of adolescence. Readers who like older YA with family tension, emotional stakes, and just enough strangeness to keep the pages turning will probably find both books worth the trip.