Review of On A Dark Wing by Jordan Dane

Title/Author: On A Dark Wing by Jordan Dane
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin Teen, December 27th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "The choices I had made led to the moment when fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn't prepared for. And Death would be my willing teacher.
Five years ago, Abbey Chandler cheated Death. She survived a horrific car accident, but her "lucky" break came at the expense of her mother's life and changed everything. After she crossed paths with Death — by taking the hand of an ethereal boy made of clouds and sky — she would never be normal again.
Now she's the target of Death's ravens and an innocent boy's life is on the line. When Nate Holden — Abbey's secret crush — starts to climb Alaska's Denali, the Angel of Death stalks him because of her.
And Abbey finds out the hard way that Death never forgets."

This book sounded SO interesting when I first read the summary and I couldn't stop myself from hitting the request button. But the story went in a whole other direction than the one I'd thought it would go... And sadly this didn't work so well for me.

I never really connected to Abbey. She carried a lot of guilt about her mother's death around with her and she doesn't talk to her dad or anyone else about this. But she doesn't really talk to her dad at all and is barely civil to him. And I felt really sorry for her dad, cause it seemed like he was trying, maybe a little too hard, but at least he was trying.

Abbey has this 'secret' crush on Nate who goes to the same school she does. The crush is extremely superficial, they don't talk to each other and Abbey doesn't know all that much about him, but she is pretty much obsessed with him, even going so far as to ask her only (male) friend to follow his excursion on the maintain through the radio because she can't herself. This was majorly off-putting to me. And sure I know what it was like to be a teenager and be in love with someone you didn't exactly know, but it never felt real to me.

Also, I had an issue with the way Death was portrayed in On A Dark Wing. I can't tell you exactly why, cause I'd be spoiling things, but I felt like he behaved like a petulant child instead of a being that's been around for centuries.

I didn't DNF this, but I almost did. I did like Abbey's best friend, he seemed like a really good guy to me and I would love to have him as a friend. But other than being a distraction for my stomach ache, On A Dark Wing didn't work for me.

My rating: 1,5 stars