Embodiments of millimeter-wave communication stations with directional antennas and methods for fast link recovery are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. In some embodiments, a transmitting station retransmits a packet in an adjacent direction when an acknowledgement is not received from a receiving station after a number of retransmission attempts. In other embodiments, a receiving station changes its reception to an adjacent direction when a packet is not received from a transmitting station after a number of missed reservations.