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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.
Although the last five minutes dragged on for an eternity, I watched the final few seconds tick toward the top of the hour and braced for my edge. If I got out first, I might stand a chance of beating the crowd. When the period ended, the bell rang and I made a mad run for the door, but my social-studies teacher, Mrs. Akkerman, raised her voice above the noise and royally jacked me up.
"Abbey Chandler, please stay after class."
Damn it! She nailed me, solid. With all eyes on me, I turned around. I couldn't even pretend that I hadn't heard her.
"Ha. Loser," Britney Hartman mumbled under her breath as she shoved me aside. She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh, like I cared about the added drama.
I could've totally come up with something cool to say, but Britney had already turned her back—the coward—and she got swallowed up by the horde of mindless zombies that crowded the hall. Okay, I admit I may have instigated her resentment from elementary school.
In Girl Scouts, she had all the badges and her mother ran the show, making sure her precious suck-up daughter got more than her share of recognition. Me? I'd never been a joiner, but that didn't become apparent even to me until I hit Britney over the head with a confetti egg in front of the whole troop. Pieces of colored paper stuck in her hair and she bawled like a baby. What can I say? She egged me on.
Even her mother got into it and expelled me from the scouts, stripping me of the one badge I'd earned for Food Power. (I made a food pyramid of healthy food groups out of junk food. Oh, the irony, but what the hell. It tasted good after.) Britney hated me for my project, too. She begrudged me the one badge I had. I caught her grinning when her mom stripped it off my sash in front of the troop. Our feud had deep roots.
After my chance to let loose my inner smart-ass on Britney had come and gone, I slouched against a wall near the classroom door and waited for the room to clear as I chipped the navy glitter polish off my stubby fingernails. Pretending to be busy, I avoided catching the smirks I knew would be there if I looked up.
Being the second to last day of school, you'd think Mrs. Akkerman would lighten up and cut me some slack, but forget about it. Teachers never had a concept for how bad it felt to single a kid out, especially on Taco Thursday. I didn't care about much. Most days I felt invisible, totally forgettable with no special talent. But damn it, give me my tacos.
Now there'd be a long line in the cafeteria. I'd be late and my best friend, Tanner Lange, would be pissed for making him wait. Adding to the suck factor, the other kids stared at me as they left, like I had an epic defect or something.
In elementary school, kids knew about the way my mother died and they treated me different, but it didn't take them long to see I didn't need their pity. I didn't want it. When the classroom cleared, Mrs. Akkerman called me over with a wave of her hand.
"I just wanted to ask you " When she stopped, I looked up. Big mistake.
She looked down at my clothes. My hoodie and jeans were more than a little wrinkled. They were clean, but I had to pull them from a cold dryer. I'd left them overnight and didn't have time to run them on hot that morning.
"How are you doing, Abbey? You getting enough sleep? Are things okay at home?"
I hated looking at her. She had a sickening expression on her face, like I had something majorly wrong with me. But I knew why she bombarded me with questions. Guess I'd brought it on myself.
Earlier in the year, she assigned a project to keep a daily journal of everything we learned in her class. I know, sounds lame, right? Well, it was crazy lame. I bought a notebook just for her class and started that journal, but on day one, I got drool on the first page from where I'd fallen asleep. After it dried, I wrote one line.
Fell asleep today. Will try again tomorrow.
By the time I turned in the assignment, every page had the same entry and enough dried spit to keep a CSI team busy for weeks. When she saw my journal, my teacher called my dad in for "a talk." She told him she worried about me being depressed and possibly suicidal. If you haven't guessed, Akk the Yak had been a former psych major.
After my dad blew past any concern he had over my mental state, he embraced his dark side and went parental on me. I had to put up with a lecture about my work ethic, but Mrs. Akkerman ended up giving me a B+ anyway—-for doing nothing. I knew other kids had gotten worse grades, despite filling their journals with enough excrement to fertilize the Matanuska valley. That confused me until I figured it out. If she thought I intended to slit my wrists, she didn't want to put me over the edge with the stroke of her red pen. I milked the whole suicidal thing for the rest of the term.
"I'm doing better. Really." I had to say "better" to stroke her ego. "And things are good with my dad." I lied again.
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Once she opened her mouth, she spewed strange stuff that I only half heard. I stood there and took it, but the whole time, I screamed in my head, "I'M NOT LISTENING, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, LET ME FRICKIN' GO, ALREADY!"
By the time she was done, I had to navigate the crowded halls like salmon swimming upstream to get my rocks off on some eggs. Out of my way No, left Walkin' here. I kept my head down, clutching my book bag to my chest to hide my wrinkles, but dead ahead a pod of jocks took up half the hall. Where there was one, more would follow and aggregate in mass quantities, like an unspoken rule or something. Everyone put up with their sense of entitlement to the halls before lunch. When these guys were ready to chow down, some pathetic dick weed would always let them cut in line.
I had to get in front of them pronto.
Normally I walked around them and held my breath. Some of them stank, but since I was late, I shoved my way through the wrestlers. They were like a solar system of varsity letter jackets with the smaller guys hanging out on the edge in a circle around the bigger, no-neck dudes. Making eye contact in this planetary system had always been verboten in my rule book, but when I saw Nate Holden, I stopped dead.
At that moment, I had two really good reasons to forget how much my life sucked and Taco Thursday paled in comparison to the reason standing next to me. Nate Holden stood talking to his buddy Josh Poole. His deep voice tingled in my ear and made my belly twist into a major knot, the kind of thing that felt terrible and amazing at the same time.
Even with his back to me, every side of Nate Holden was excellent. I loved how his dark hair curled at his collar and he always smelled good, but with a full frontal, his hypnotic blue eyes made me forget to breathe. Whenever he talked, his lips could mesmerize me for hours, too. Being next to him felt like getting sucker punched—and liking it. He'd always be out of my league, an unreachable boy from an alternative universe who came to me in my sleep and tortured me. Sweet torture.
Nate Holden had been a constant reminder of how messed up I was. He was the complete opposite of me, someone I had no business even wanting. We had absolutely nothing in common. Brownie points for him. But that didn't stop me from practically stalking him. Deduct said brownie points. I played scenarios in my head, where he needed me as much as I wanted him. How sick was that?
That would never happen. My fantasies were the only way I'd ever get close to someone like him.
"Where the hell have you been?" A voice came from nowhere and intruded on my fantasy like cold water dumped on my head.
"What?"
I turned to see Tanner Lange roll up in his wheelchair. I considered him my best friend, poor guy. In truth, he was my only real friend, even if he got a little rude at grazing time.
"I had prime real estate staked out in the cafeteria. I had to give it up to come looking for you. What happened?"
Looking back over my shoulder, I stared at Nate as I mumbled something about Akk the Yak keeping me after class, but Tanner didn't buy my excuse.
"You've been stalking him again, haven't you?" He shook his head, but I saw him losing his battle with a smile. Tanner had cute dimples that gave him away every time. The whole bashful-boy routine came easy for him and he wore it well.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to turn my back on the one thing (besides Tanner) that made school even remotely tolerable, Nate Holden. After I slung my bag on Tanner's wheelchair, I climbed on back to scoot us down the hall.
"Coming through, people," I yelled, making engine and horn noises. "Make a hole."
It took us over thirty minutes to get through the line and get to a table, only we had to share our spot with the Scrapbook Club, the glue and stickers brigade. Talk about useless!
"You gonna eat your tomato?" Tanner didn't wait for my answer.
He reached across the table to score the tomato slices on my chopped lettuce. I thought about stabbing him with my fork, but that's not how you treat a guy in a wheelchair—at least not while anyone was looking.
"Chandler, you should consider dialing it back a notch with Holden." Tanner leaned in and whispered. "You're a little obvious, don't you think? I'm disturbed by your drooling. It's nearly put me off of my taco experience."
"You're disturbed, all right. Anyone can see that." I rolled my eyes.
Although I knew he had a point, I couldn't help it. I was a junkie and Nate fed my addiction. The boy was seriously worthy. He was smart, got good grades, and he risked his sweet neck doing volunteer work for a mountain rescue team. If he had any flaws, no one could expect me to point them out, because I was blind. Seriously blind.
"It's a good thing I'm secure in my manhood or else I'd be a little uncomfortable with your courtship ritual." Tanner stuffed a taco into his mouth.
"Yeah, good thing, Chuck Norris. I can see how messed up you are about it. How're the tacos?"
"Are you gonna eat.?"
"Don't even think about it." I glared at him. I wasn't so wrapped up with crushing on Nate that I'd let Tanner scarf a taco off my tray, not on my watch. "Damn, dude. You're like a human garbage disposal. Seriously. You've got a tapeworm or something."
"I'm blessed with a healthy metabolism. It runs in my family."
"Yeah, well I wish you'd share it with me. The only reason I hang with you is, I'm hoping lean and mean is contagious."
I had totally justified body image issues, but never cared enough to go cold-turkey off the junk food, and forget about breaking a sweat. Exercise was for mice in a cage with a wheel and nothing better to do.
"Now I know you're lying. I know the real reason you've lowered your standards to hang with me." Tanner leaned across the table again. Only this time, he didn't whisper. "'Cause when I start driving, I'll have all the choice parking spots."
"You've nailed it, Lange. I'm after your handi-crap parking. You've got me figured out. But, dude, I'm tellin' ya, some days that's not good enough." I looked at him sideways and smirked. "So why do you tolerate me?"
"Two reasons. You're my only friend with boobs."
I rolled my eyes and scrunched my face. "What's the second reason?"
"You do the math, Chandler. You've got two of 'em, duh."
When Tanner shrugged and kept eating, it gave me a chance to partake in the Nate Holden experience when he finally walked into the cafeteria and the Red Sea parted. If Palmer High had royalty, Nate would be crown prince and I'd be the cursed troll who lived under the bridge. Nate stood close enough to our table for me to overhear him talk to Josh about their trip up Denali. A climb like that would be epic, but it worried me. People did it. Some never come back. I had met one of the unlucky ones once. His body was still up there, frozen in ice.
I had plenty of motivation to talk Nate out of the climb of his life—a trip he'd been talking about forever—but he'd never listen to someone like me. I wasn't even on his radar. We occupied the same planet and breathed the same air, but that's where anything we had in common came to a dead stop.
"You comin' over tonight?" Tanner had turned his attention to his chocolate pudding cup. "I got a recording of a new Japanese reality TV show that's pretty sick. You could check out my new radio. Dad says it should pick up the frequency Nate will be using for us to track his climb."
Expedition teams on Denali carried portable radio transceivers used to get weather alerts and for emergencies. Our plan had been to eavesdrop on Nate's climb.
"Yeah, sure. That'd be great."
Tanner was an army brat whose father did the daily commute to Fort Rich so his mom could live in Palmer to be near her family. His dad doted on his only son, especially after Tanner was paralyzed from a four-wheeler accident at thirteen years old. Racing too fast with his buddies on a mountain trail, not far from Palmer, Tanner slid around a corner and his back wheel caught a boulder that sent him careening into a ravine. He got pinned under the vehicle. Once they freed him, he had to be evacuated by helicopter, but the damage to his spinal cord had been too severe. A lapse in judgment had cost Tanner his legs and since his father had bought him the four-wheeler, against his mother's wishes, the terrible incident nearly shattered his family.
Tanner had been strong and athletic once. He had friends, too. But after things got rough, his buddies went on with their lives, leaving Tanner to deal with his. I'd been one of the few people who stuck around. Birds of a feather, I guess.
My best friend had his own reasons for listening to Nate's Denali expedition on his radio. It gave him a chance to imagine going with him. Tanner never had to tell me that. I figured it out on my own.
jwitt33
Posted Thu Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2012
I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
3.5 stars/5
When I saw the synopsis for this book I couldn't wait to read it. Now that I have, I'm having a hard time writing the review because I have such mixed feelings! There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed, and other parts that just annoyed the heck out of me!
Five years ago, Abbey Chandler almost died in a car accident. She lost her mother in this same accident. She saw a white light and an ethereal looking boy, and when he reached out his hand to her, she took it. Then her mother called her name, the connection was broken, and she lost consciousness. Now, we learn that that boy was basically Death itself, and when Abbey touched his hand he felt such a connection with her, and the love that her mother had for her, that he comes back to inhabit the body of a boy so he can experience love for himself. OK - I have no problem with that part! This was a very unique twist on the usual angel/demon/death theme. I think the book could have been a very interesting one, but for some reason it just kind of fell flat more often than not. I think one of the main reasons for this is that the main character, Abbey, is just plain annoying most of the time! She has a very weird stalker vibe going on with regards to a boy in her class named Nate, someone who she has never officially met, and never even talked to! You wouldn't know this from her fantasies and the way she talks to him in her mind ALL the time! She has a very strained relationship with her father which I think is mostly because she acts like a brat toward him throughout most of the book. She does grow a bit through the book, which is great, but it's rather hard to feel connected to her. When some kids at school pull a very mean prank on her, then you can feel real sympathy for her, but it doesn't take long before she's back to fantasizing about and mentally stalking Nate, and then she loses you again!
The most compelling character in the book is Abbey's friend, Tanner, who is awesomeness itself in a wheelchair! He is truly a good friend to her, but she doesn't seem to even notice this as she is totally wrapped up in Nate. This is one of the problems that I had with the book - shouldn't the most compelling character be one of the main characters as opposed to a secondary character? Both Abbey and Death seemed kind of lame next to Tanner, and Nate didn't even compare!
There were parts of the book that had me interested and had me turning the pages quickly to find out what was going to happen next, and it was definitely unpredictable. For this reason, I will certainly read more of Jordan Dane's work because I like her writing style, and I think with different characters, I would enjoy reading her books :D
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2013
Cookiekit runs back to the hawk. Brother! She hissed. Never scare me so
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Icecream18JA
Posted Tue Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2012
Author Jordan Dane successfully weaves a fascinating paranormal story with tinges of romance. The book starts out with an intriguing prologue that will enable the reader to get to know Abbey, the main character, very well. Abbey lost her mother in a scary car accident at a young age; she also met Death...and Death never forgot her. Abbey has survivor's guilt and, as a result, her relationship with her dad is also strained.
Abbey has one thing that she believes makes her happy, her crush, Nate Holden. Her friend, Tanner, indulges her somewhat stalkerish dream of being the girlfriend to Nate. When Tanner decides to go with some friends and his dad to climb Denali, she decides to listen in to his conversations. Instead of a good time, Nate has a series of unfortunate problems that Abbey figures out are a result of The Angel of Death. Will Nate get safely off the mountain?
The story switches view points multiple times so the reader is able to connect to some of the secondary characters as well as Abbey. Abbey is a main character the reader will likely enjoy. She can be a little too determined in her unwavering passion, but she means well. Tanner is a great friend, the reader will love his tempered devotion to Abbey. Nate is actually a worthy love interest. He takes care of his friends and goes to great lengths not to let them down.
The book was fast-paced and had an unusual plot. The whole novel is over in a week, but the reader will feel as if he/she knows the characters very well. There are a few surprises in store for the reader. The author writes very fluidly, there are no choppy, awkward transitions. Overall, a teen/young adult readers would enjoy this novel.
After reading In The Arms of Stone Angel I fell in love with Ms. Dane's writing. Not only did she tell a great story, but gave me a wonderful reading adventure. Death. It's something everyone will come to pass sooner or later. I really like how the plot of the story gave a different aspect to death. Most of the time in books he is always gloomy and well...death. On A Dark Wing, Ms. Dane unfolds of a story of Death never told. One that surpasses anything beyond normal.
What I liked most about this story is the great plot line. I loved it when a new story, out of the box creation is told. Death is not some other thing but a person with feelings. I admit that anything to do with the afterlife always fascinates me. I like how well the story unfolded before the readers eyes capturing the reader from the very beginning. There are several plot twist that kept me on the tip of my toes. I adore the chance at pursuing the character of Death and getting to know his story.
There is not really a love interest but more of an obsession. This is something totally different and new to me. I loved reading and watching the characters grow with more knowledge of what exactly brought them together. I love that Ms. Dane created a great back round history to both characters, making the story much more fulfilling.
If you want a great dark story with something more than just death, read this book. Ms. Dane present the reader with a story that is beautifully written. The ending of the story was beautifully weaved, leaving the reader satisfied. With a great dramatic plot, On A Dark Wing is an fantastic read!
In the final stretch of 2011, HarlequinTeen has brought readers a new angel story that provides enough unique twists to make it stand apart from its many predecessors of the year. Wrought with emotion and intrigue, Jordan Dane has brought new life to the angel tale through a dark examination of life and death. While I overall enjoyed this book, I will say that it didn't necessarily blow me away. There were a few things that didn't really mesh for me and it wasn't the type of book where I found myself truly caring about and immersed in the characters and their world.
When her mother died in a car accident 5 years ago, Abby was left with the guilt and pain of surviving that same crash. It changed her relationship with her father and those around her. What she didn't realize at the time is that there were even bigger ramifications to her survival. Abby finds out the hard way that Death never forgets a soul that he was meant to collect.
Abby isn't the type of MC that I'm typically drawn to, which made some of the story hard to get through. She's a bit standoffish with her father, acquaintances and even her best friend, Tanner. She struck me as a bit self-absorbed at times, and while some of that can be forgiven through her traumatic past, I would think that she would be willing at this point to let others into her life just a little. Also, her crush on obsession with Nate Holden simply struck me as...odd. I couldn't quite understand her fascination with this boy that she didn't know AT ALL. I get that it's common to crush on the cute popular boy a little. Heck, I did it too. Abby just takes her crush to a whole new level that I really just didn't "get." Thankfully, Abby does develop a lot throughout this novel and make some good decisions--i.e. she grows up a bit. I felt like by the end she was starting to see the good things that she did in fact have in her life that she had been missing/ignoring.
Tanner is awesome. The end. He was easily my favorite character in this book. He's a great friend and so dedicated to Abby. I just wanted to scream at her for basically not noticing him. Seriously, so much boyfriend potential there. And to top it off, he's got a fabulous sense of humor and the brains to go with it. He really "got" Abby and he was always there for her.
While this was a good read, it was a GREAT read, at least not for me. It lacked the character connection that I look for in a great novel. Abby wasn't a character that made me excited to dive back into the story. There were also a few oddities with this novel that I'm not sure how I felt about them, the the main thing was the changing point of view. I understood having some from Abby and some from Tanner and even a little from Nate...but all of the sudden we were getting Bob Holden and snippets from Jackie Holden and it felt like too much. The sections jumped back and forth in small bursts and it interrupted the flow a little for me. So, while I enjoyed this novel and would easily recommend it to fans of paranormal reads and "angel books," it wasn't my favorite this year. The writing is really good, but the characters and pacing didn't work for me.
First and foremost I would like to thank Jordan Dane and Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.
I have to say I have never read a book that caused me to have so many feelings at once. I have wanted to read this book since I saw the cover on Netgalley. So I was excited when Trisha Wolfe had a tour blog for this book. So without further ado here is my review.
Abbey Chandler knows what death is, she is surrounded by it day and night. She lost her mother at an early age and her father is a mortician. So Abbey is a loner having only one best friend and his name is Tanner. The only thing is Abbey is infatuated with Nate Holden and he has no idea who she is or that she even likes him.
Then we have Tanner who is Abbey's best friend and is wheelchair bound but he and Abbey have a friendship like no other. Plus Tanner has a secret that he is keeping from Abbey that he will soon be forced to tell her. He stands by Abbey for better or worse and he will do anything to protect her from cruel people they have to deal with everyday.
Nate Holden what is there to say about him...... well he is smart and athletic and the apple of Abbey's eye. But Nate's world is climbing and he plans to climb the tallest mountain with his best friend Josh and his father. Nate loves everything about climbing and it is his life and he has no idea Abbey exists. That is until he goes on his climb of Denali and something goes wrong.
Abbey and Nate will come face to face with something neither of them expected. What are they to do when someone comes knocking on their door and they will both be faced with a situation that could make them or break them. What is a girl to do when she comes face to face with an angel or is it death? Abbey will have to make some serious decisions and she will have to leave one person behind and brace another in order to move on. What will she do? Will she love her crush forever or will she move on and learn to love the one person who loves her? What will death do to her? Want to know all that pick this book up on December 27, 2011! I promise you this book is GREAT!
What_She_Read
Posted Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2011
3.5 stars. It seems hard to review this book. It was good, but it¿s just hard to explain. I will try though.
Wow. Talk about a prologue. it is the way that we weren't given too much information, yet given enough for satisfaction that carried us quickly through the prologue. There wasn't much that this prologue as missing and as a brilliant lead up to the rest if the novel. we really need to know about what abbey looks like, we associate her trouble and her looks and need them to fully understand her situation and early dilemmas
Even though this novel¿s blurb does tell us basically about the book, it¿s not that overwhelmingly so. Yes, we are already told that Death is following her, and we should be the ones to figure it out as soon as Abbey does and not through the Blurb.
Abbey. Well, she seems (up to 150pages into the book) like she is very delusional. She is has an obsessive nature over Nate, yet she doesn¿t know him and has never spoken to him before. She thinks that she knows exactly what he is going to do, what he is going to say and what his attitude is. She doesn¿t know. When she claims that it was just a crush on him, our perceptions from the novel don¿t let us make it seem so. With her fantasies and what seems like mind games, I might question if she is sane.
Nate. As he is on his trip, we get the feeling that he knows too much. He completely diagnoses himself as well as his friend. We get the feeling that this is not a teenage boy here, but a doctor. Is this the impressions we must have on him?
The story moved pretty fast throughout the novel, and during the novel, I was wondering what would happen at the end when we could basically guess at what would happen (yet the predictability didn¿t turn us off the book, it just kept us going to see where it all would lead).
I didn¿t see it at first, but Jordan Dane is right (see interview) about the Cover, it does have an impact on the end of the novel and I¿m glad, because it gets people more intrigued as to what the cover art is about and how it relates to the story.
Despite all this, the story kept me intrigued the whole time and I just wanted to keep on reading. Even from the blurb telling us all and the predictability, the book help our interest and keeps you going through it. (Not feverishly, but you do get a pull through the novel). It is a great story, yet as I said earlier, it is hard to review.
I was really excited to read this book. The synopsis sounds awesome. It was very slow to start, and actually for quite a while into the book. I was really quite bored up until about chapter six. Then it started to get a little more interesting, but still wasn't really keeping me drawn in. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that I started to enjoy it. It was just not really what I expected. The story moved along slowly, and I didn't really feel a connection to the characters.
Abbey is the MC. In all honesty, she really annoyed me. I know she is supposed to be a lonely teenage girl that has pent up emotions about her mothers death, but it goes beyond that. She was just so whiny and it really bothered me. I suppose that is how a lot of teenagers are though, but it was like everything had to be about her or she was a brat about it. She does grow up a bit towards the end, but I still couldn't get myself to like her very much.
Tanner, Abbey's best friend was a very likable character. He is a really nice kid, who will go to any lengths to make sure his best friend is happy. He has issues of his own, but puts Abbey first, even when he knows that it will get him into trouble, and even at the expense of his feelings. He is a very strong character, but we don't really get much of him in the story.
Overall it wasn't a bad book. It does have a good story about letting go of guilt and moving on from bad situations. It had a bit of romance too. I think there are a lot of people who would really enjoy this book. It was just different than I thought it would be and didn't quite live up to my expectations.
On a Dark Wing is a beautiful story of a teenage girl who becomes a young woman, and understanding the meaning of love and the sacrifices she will need to make for it. I love Jordan Dane¿s writing. She always writes with an eerie darkness and romance that touches deep into my heart. I thought Dane¿s novel, In the Arms of Stone Angels, had me crying of heart-break, but she takes On a Dark Wing to a deeper level of heart-break that had me crying all the way though Abby's story. Jordan Dane just has this great insight for writing dark, eerie paranormal, that sends chills though my body. She definitely has a gift for writing the eerie.
Abbey is a stubborn, head-strong teenage girl. She has carried the guilt of her mother's death for five years, which has closed her inside a dark place and makes her an outcast with her peers at school. But Death has come back to Abbey, and what she thought she hated, will be what shows her the meaning of love.
Abbey does have one friend, Tanner. I love this guy. Tanner is also an outcast and loner, which is why Abbey and Tanner cling to each other. Tanner is a true friend to Abby and there is nothing he wouldn't sacrifice for her. Tanner and Abbey¿s relationship is one that had me loving these two together, especially when Abbey figures out what's fantasy and what's real.
On a Dark Wing is told from about five POVs, with Abbey being the main one. I liked this. I like knowing what the other characters are thinking, and Jordan Dane's writing from this many POVs is clear for each character. I highly recommend On a Dark Wing as a must read and am definitely looking forward to Jordan Dean's next novels.
A darkly beautiful, unexpected psychological thriller On A Dark Wing turned out to be. It did shock me, but in a good way.
I loved listening to Abbey's voice as she narrates her story. It switches occasionally to Nate's, Tanner's and Nate's mom's point of view sometimes, but the majority is still in Abbey's. I loved the way that she was a little sarcastic, but not overly so, a little childish sometimes, but mature in others. Her train of thought and emotions were easily relatable and understandable, being a teenager myself. It was very realistic - her natural defiance/rebellious spirit towards her dad, her obsession over a boy (though I don't have one, but it's still relatable), her sarcasm and witty jokes. Her sarcasm really kicked a punch - it was SO funny! And it made reading On A Dark Wing such an enjoyable read.
Dane's not afraid of using a little cuss words here and there, but none too major, and never sounding uncouth or coarse. However there was one part that got a little too sardonic and emo, and her obsession with Nate got a little overboard (dreaming about him talking to and kissing you's fine, but don't do it so incessantly!). But it was just a tiny portion that I thought is negligible in the whole scheme of things.
Furthermore, I loved Dane's writing style, phrasings and diction. It was beautiful and mature in a way I find sorely lacking in many YA and some Adult Fiction novels.
The. Plot. Was. Amazing. And that's probably an understatement, but it was very well-thought of, very detailed, and it flowed like a movie. I can practically see the story playing out in my head! As she switched from Abbey's poing of view, to Nate's to Tanner's to Abbey's again, it never got confusing and it never dulled the suspense even though we knew things from both ends.
I thought that I've seen all types of YA, and normally I can pretty much guess the storyline and ending of a book, at least roughly, but I couldn't for On A Dark Wing. At all. It's extraordinary, I tell you. Really amazing.
The only negative point about On A Dark Wing is its slow pace at the start and middle portion, and since I'm not a fan of mystery and thrillers, I wasn't enjoying it all that much or overly-excited about it initally. But the humor encouraged me on, and the ending was so beautiful! There was closure between the father and daughter, between old friends and new ones, and a beautiful new relationship forms.
I was expecting a typical YA talking about Angels (suggested by the cover) and human heroine falling in love, but it turned out to be a mix between YA psychological thriller and mystery with tiny hints of paranormal romance. Dane even addressed a very controversial topic about Death. What happens After? What happens WHEN you're about to make the transition? Other than the slow start On A Dark Wing will keep you glued to its pages and it will induce lots of emotions in you - an example would be fear (yes, I did feel fear. I read it at night and I literally got scared), and another is sadness, then contentment). It is a great book, and one that I will recommend to my friends.
sjune
Posted Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2011
My first Jordan Dane read was In the Arms of Stone Angels, and I was hooked! I knew I couldn¿t wait to read another of her YA novels and was very excited to hear she had a new one coming soon, On a Dark Wing. The description had me intrigued and curious to see what she would do with it, would it be a love story or would I be left heartbroken. Then when I saw the cover, wow! After reading it, I realized how perfect the cover fit the book. There were times when I was left crying and others when I had a huge cheesy grin on my face. Jordan did a beautiful job describing the setting of Alaska in a way that I felt like I was there; I could almost smell the trees. To me, this book addresses so many topics: bullying, self-forgiveness and understanding, true friends, love verses a crush, and communication. I really liked how the book went back and forth between Abby, Tanner and Nate. It flowed well and through each story line you could start to piece together how past events affected each person now and how things will change for each in the future. Abby is still dealing with the feeling that her mom dying is her fault which is putting a strain on her relationship with her dad. Tanner was in a freak accident that left him in a wheelchair and is Abby¿s best friend. Nate is the popular guy that Abby is obsessed with, though he doesn¿t know she exists and is about to embark on a dangerous climb with his dad and best friend, Josh. On the eve of the last day of school, Tanner reluctantly reveals a site to Abby where they were both victims of cyber-bullying which devastates Abby and fuels her desire to leave with her dad for their cabin before the last day of school. While Abby tries to deal with her mom¿s upcoming birthday (the reason her dad takes her to their cabin every year) and the cyber bullying, she has an encounter with ¿Nate¿, though she realizes there is something not quite right about him. While Abby is away Tanner decides he has to do something about the site that caused Abby so much pain and sets a plan in action, which I think is quite brilliant. Through this plan he comes to realize something about his friends and motivation behind making things right for Abby. Meanwhile, Nate is starting his climb up Denali with Josh, his best friend, his dad and others. Nate¿s trip takes a dangerous turn and this event allows Death to find out more about Abby, the girl he met 5 years prior. When I read On a Dark Wing no emotion was left untouched. It is a beautiful story that will make you cry and leave you smiling. I will never think of death the same way again. Once again, Jordan Dane did an amazing job!!
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Overview
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.
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