Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I have liked a lot of David Owen's books and Grief Angels is no exception. It is a really great look at grief especially with teenage boys. I loved the fantasy world that was interwined with the standard world and seeing Owen be drawn in. I have also been dealing with a lot of grief due to a death I suffered this year so it definitely helped with my feelings. I was just a really great read and I would highly recommend it.

This book has both contemporary and fantasy elements to it. The fantasy elements just didn’t work at all. The rest of the book was just ok.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as I loved All the Lonely People so much. But it is quite a different style of book – more magical realism than I expected, and I personally don’t get on so well with that.
However, I really enjoyed the ‘realism’ parts of the book – I loved Duncan’s wheelchair-bound sister Emily, and the dynamics of his friendship group. But I struggled with the ‘magical’ sections of the book, and I found I lost focus during those bits. Like I say though – this is my issue, not the book’s!
As always though with David Owen’s writing, there are beautiful turns of phrase, and the characters were well drawn and interesting.

I did like this, but parts of it were problematic to me, which I didn't like. I liked Duncan and Owen and their friendship a lot, though.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Many thanks to Atom and NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this novel by David Owen. I genuinely loved it - I would definitely recommend it and most especially, to young adults or the parents of children directly affected by grief. It is a moving portrayal of a young mans struggle to make sense of the world further to a great loss. All in a world where many young men and still all too often encouraged to bottle up their feelings, 'man up' and get on with it.

I thought it was a novel way of presenting a subject that is often very difficult for both adults and children alike to address. I will admit that I sometimes lost my way a little with the mystical/fantastical elements - though I do think that in itself somewhat chimes with how utterly unknown the feeling of a first loss of someone so close to you must be. It is a very clever, intriguing novel and one that has led me to think that I will certainly buy previous and future books published by this author.

Highly recommended for young adults, particularly young men and would be a great novel for class discussion.

Grief Angels is a compelling exploration of male teenage relationships, mental health and dealing with loss. Owen blends contemporary and fantasy elements skillfully, and I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend this book.

This is another brilliant novel by David Owen, I have read and enjoyed all of his published books so far and not one of his books has disappointed. Grief Angels is intriguing and beautifully written and I really loved the exploration of grief, toxic masculinity and male friendships and the hopeful ending.

This book follows Owen and Duncan. Two teenage boys who form a friendship in order to help them cope with their various struggles. Owen's father recently passed away and he is trying to deal with his grief whilst seeing strange birds. Duncan has been dealing with depression but hasn't felt able to tell his friends.

This book is told from their two POVs. There is also a magical realism/fantasy element where Own is seeing these birds that take him to a strange forest where he has to complete a quest. I didn't 't enjoy the fantasy element. I found it confusing and I did find myself skipping over these sections. I did, however, enjoy the contemporary portion of this book.

I did like the topics that were covered in this book. I also liked that this focused on a male friendship group which was something that I haven't really seen a lot in books.

Overall I did enjoy this one but it isn't a new favourite for me.

I really enjoyed Grief Angels by David Owen. I've read a couple other books by the same author so requested this book without too much investigation about the plot of the story itself so as I was reading it much of it came as a surprise.

I thought it was all really well put together. In particular, I loved the exploration of grief, toxic masculinity and male friendships. The magical realism was a little bit out there but it seemed to work and added this layer of darkness to the story itself.

Grief Angels is the heartbreaking contemporary story of Owen, who has recently lost his dad and moves to a new town with his mum. There he meets Duncan, who he gradually forms a beautiful friendship with. But Owen is having very vivid ethereal hallucinations of a strange forest, where he must go on a journey to find his inner peace.

This is one of the most stunning YA novels I’ve read in a long time and I was so invested in both strands of the narrative. As well as dealing with deeply serious subject matter, there is also plenty of exploration of teenage male friendships and an ending full of hope.

I was sent this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

15-year-old Owen is experiencing a great, disorienting loss after his father suddenly passed away and his mother moved them to a new town. None of his old friends knew how to confront his grief, so he's given up on trying to make new ones. There is one guy at school who might prove to be different if he gives him a chance but lately, Owen has been overwhelmed by his sadness. He's started to have strange, powerful hallucinations of skeletal birds circling above him. Owen tells himself that these visions are just his brain's way of trying to cope - until one night, the birds descend and take him to an otherworldly forest. There, he is asked to go on a dangerous journey that promises to bring him the understanding he so desperately seeks - if he can survive it.

Grief Angels is an urgent and heartfelt look at the power of nostalgia and the many different forms of grief. It's about young men learning how to share their stories, and teens discovering who they are, and who they might one day become.

I found this book very difficult to read. The descriptions of the birds was very etheral and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the prose.
Unfortunately I did not finish the book. I stopped at 25% because I found it confusing. The woodland scenes didn't really make sense, they would have fit if the book was a fantasy, but not in contemporary book. The characters could be good, there is a lot of description to start with so I guess that their development will be good. I'm not sure of the plot, I found that Owen didn't really make sense as a character, he wasn't very developed. I'm sure the book has promise, but it does not appeal to me at this time.

I'm giving it 3* as I'm sure it has potential, but it isn't for me.

A raw, compelling and heartfelt read, that compels you to keep turning the page. The delicate subject matter is handled beautifully by the author who has crafted a novel which is something everyone should read no matter how recently or long ago you lost a loved one.

I am really interested in reading books that feature the topic of mental health, especially in YA. So, when I heard about David Owen’s new release Grief Angels, I knew I had to read it. This sounded like a read that would take a different approach to the topic of mental health and I was intrigued.

The story focuses on two teenage boys Owen and Duncan. Owen is the new boy at school, after moving due to the death of his dad. Overwhelmed by his grief Owen starts t have hallucinations of strange birds circling above him, at first Owen thinks it’s his brains way of coping, until one night the birds take him away to a mysterious forest where he is asked to undertake a quest that will hopefully give him the understanding and closure he desperately needs. Duncan befriends Owen, but with his own problems can he really help Owen in a time of need?

First things first, this was a real unique way of tackling such sensitive topics such as depression and grief. As someone who loves when magic intertwines with realism it was a breath of fresh air to read something like this, and I did find myself engaged for the most part. Despite this, I did find the fantasy elements to be somewhat confusing? It was all a little bit unclear and I was desperate to know if it was real, a dream or a hallucination. I was hoping this would have been cleared up the the end of the book, but alas it wasn’t, which left me disappointed.

Mind you, what I did enjoy was the contemporary side of the story (and many of you know I love YA Contemporary). The way Owen and Duncan were written was highly believable and I commend the author. David Owen has such a great way to writing teenage boys, and this, in turn, made me believe these characters were authentic. Also, as the story was written from both POV’s we got to really see inside both characters, which I really did enjoy. Although, I must admit I found myself liking Duncan’s POV more if I’m being brutally honest. The isolation he felt within his group of friends, and the way he tried to hide his depression did relate to me as I’d been through that previously. The friendship that blossomed between the two boys was also remarkable. We got to see them support each other through talking about their feelings, hopes and also dreams.

One other topic within Grief Angels that really got me thinking was the topic of Toxic Masculinity. This is one topic that I really don’t see enough of in YA, and yet again I commend the author for focusing on it. We saw Duncan involved with a group of friends who were sexist and very focused on being what they thought was the norm of being a man. This included body image, getting with girls, getting drunk and not showing their feelings. Toxic masculinity is something that is engrained in many men today and Owen and Duncan were proof that men do have feelings and can show them.

Grief Angels was a beautifully written story that had a unique way of capturing your interest. I found myself emotionally invested in the stories of Owen and Duncan and I hope that if you pick this up, you will feel the same.

It's a brilliant story that I loved.
It's poignant, full of emotions and you cannot help loving the characters and feeling for them.
I was attracted by the fantasy aspects but I found myself involved in the "real" story and loved what I read.
An excellent and moving read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Grief Angels is an unusual read that blends a contemporary story with what can best be described as magical elements. It doesn’t surprise me that Owen mentioned Skellig in his Afterword, as there were some definite similarities between the two stories.
The story focuses on a fairly small cast of teenage boys. Four have been friends forever, but we see the pressures that can be put on a friendship over time. The main character, Duncan, has been treated for depression for the last year but has told nobody. When new boy, Owen, arrives things start to shift.
Duncan and Owen are quite unlikely friends, but together they are stronger.
As the boys learn to navigate a world of loss, they also have to grow up and consider who they want to be and what they want to represent.
The contemporary element of the story really was engaging. Humorous moments could be found amidst the turmoil, and it was great to see a friendship between Owen and Duncan that was just that. They supported each other and talked about themselves, their feelings and their hopes and fears.
While I was drawn to the more abstract elements, these weren’t fully explored. I interpreted these strange occurrences as Owen’s way to manage the very complicated feelings he had about his father and the death. Maybe they actually happened, but we’re never sure.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

A heartfelt, intriguing exploration of adolescence and grief from an entertaining quirky author. Really gives emotional insight and great allegorical ways of dealing with those emotions.

An outstanding narrative on grief and friendship.

This book had me gripped from the very beginning. I absolutely loved the perspective of the teenage boys; David Owen really brought these characters to life and I was so engrossed in their stories that I struggled to put it down. Despite the very sensitive subject matter, this book had me laughing out loud at the sarcasm and wit of the young people within its pages. It was so refreshing to read something so un-romantic but truly lovely. I wonder if teenagers were this open and honest with each other, would the world be a better place? The conversation about mental health is growing and becoming more prominent, and this book will, I hope, help this process along even further.

The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five is that the voices of the two boys were a little similar and this sometimes made the transition between perspectives difficult to track. However, in no way did this take anything from the story or character development. The parts of the story set in the forest were a little hard to follow, but the poetry and prose contained within more than compensated.

The metaphorical transition from being ruled by one's grief, and ruling it, was poignant and beautiful. I will definitely be reading more of David Owen's work!

This review will be posted on Amazon and Good Reads on 4th March 2020.

Grief Angels is the story of two boys: Duncan and Owen. Duncan suffers from depression and is going through some difficult times with his friendship group. They are growing apart as they develop different interests and different levels of sexual maturity leading to jealousy and competition that is driving a wedge between them. Owen is struggling with his feelings after the death of his father. He's sick of being told how to grieve and how to think about his father, because his memories and those of the people around him aren't the same and he is struggling to reconcile this.

I have been excited for Grief Angels since I first heard about it. I devoured the YALC sampler and was desperate for more. I always enjoy David's work, so I was definitely going to pick up this book, even before I knew it was taking on two of my favourite themes: grief and mental illness,. I expected  this book to be brilliantly written, like all of David's books, and to have some of the themes I have come to associate with his work: characters facing difficult situations, feeling isolated from others, and being forced to examine their feelings. This book has all of these things and much, much more. It is something really special.

Owen has creepy, recurring dreams that progress to a kind of vision / experience that only he can see and be part of. I don't know how to explain this, so just agree with me and let's move on, okay? There are angels and he's becoming one of them. It is a way for him to work through his grief and the complicated feelings he is having, but I loved that this was done with a touch of magical realism. We see how Owen's grieving makes him different to those around him, and how it consumes his life even as he is trying to get on with other things. The magical world is captivating: I loved the people, the landscape and the concept that somehow Owen is being tested as he walks through the world of Death. 

Meanwhile Duncan, is dealing with depression and friendship drama. He is growing apart from his friends, they're not as close as they used to be and he is starting to find some of their behaviour problematic, but he doesn't want to lose his lifelong pals so he sort of goes along with it whilst inwardly panicking and berating himself for his part in it. He is looking for ways to bring their group back together (like getting them involved in his sister's talent show), but is also reluctant to share his diagnosis with hem, and accepts that they are growing apart. David has written this perfectly. I felt Duncan opening up about his struggle with depression, his diagnosis and his treatment in my soul. It was refreshing to see a character (particularly a teenage boy) be so open about this.

The two boys are thrown together by their parents in that awkward way parents have of being like: we both have children, let us force them to talk whilst we have tea. But the bond and become close friends quite quickly. They have a lot in common and they're both more willing to be open with each other than with the other people in their lives. 

For me, one of the key things about Grief Angels is that is shows boys dealing with emotions (grief, loss of friendships, growing up, mental health difficulties etc). There are not enough of these books in the world. As the mother of a growing boy, this is a thing I am often aware of, and whilst boys can absolutely read books with female main characters, teen boys particularly need to see themselves in books: they need to be able to see characters like Owen and Duncan who show them that it's okay to feel your feelings, and there there are alternatives to bottling up your worries and the toxic masculinity narrative they are often subjected to. I shall climb down off my soap box now and get back to writing about how great this book is. 

Grief Angels is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. You know when you read a book and there's a line or a paragraph that is so breathtaking that you have to put it down to just sit and reflect on what you read? That. This happened to me so many times reading this book. The descriptions are gorgeous, the dual narrative captures the boys very different voices perfectly, it is witty and made me laugh aloud a lot, and it has one the the best visions of the afterlife I've come across. 

This book floored me. I was prepared for it to be emotional, after all it tackles grief and mental health, but I wasn't prepared for it to make me cry or for it to worm it's way into my little shrivelled brick heart. It has amazing characters, brilliant friendships, tackles important issues and has just the perfect amount of drama to keep me turning the pages. I didn't want it to be over. I could have stayed in this world with these characters forever.