Relight My Fire by C.K McDonnell ( The Stranger Times #4)– book review

Here is my review of Relight My Fire By C K Mc Donnell

Some comebacks can be murder . . .
Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in. This isn’t just the hunt for another story though. Dark powers think Stella might have been involved and the only way she and the team can prove her innocence is to find out what the hell is really going on. What have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this?
Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a one-man funeral who has been sent to make the paper’s editor atone for his sins. Once he finds out exactly what those entails, Banecroft is not keen. Being banished to a Hellscape for all eternity looks like being no fun at all, not least because he has that pale Irish skin that burns really easily .
All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity ‘Who’s Who’ that’d put a royal wedding to shame, and you’re looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times .

Review ( click on titles for reviews of The Stranger Times, This Charming Man, Love will Tear Us Apart)

I loved this addition to hilarious  The Stranger Times urban fantasy series- here is review of Relight My Fire by C. K McDonnell.

I admit I had a bit of FOMO when I didn’t get to read Relight My Fire before its release and had to wait till it came out officially. But it was worth the wait.

Even though this is the fourth book in the series, you can just jump into this book without having read the other books- you are quickly brought up to speed with overarching themes.

Banecroft, the editor at The Stranger Times ( a newspaper dedicated to exposing the strange and wonderful) is as grumpy as ever but now with a touch of guilt for his past actions and worried about going to hell. Stella, trying her hand at being a normal student, Ox and Reggie are still bickering with Hannah and Grace keeping them all together.

When a man falls to his death in front of Stella after seeming to fly, they are drawn along with their favourite policeman into finding out why.

The book races along with one vivid and imaginative concept to another, with so many laugh out moments- with dead famous people making a comeback, evil scientists, has been popstars and larger than life strip club manager.

Manchester still plays a starring role- it is so refreshing to see a book set in a Northern City instead of London. We also get to learn a little more about the Founders, Fae and Wiven as well meet a few new characters as well some old ones.

Perfect for Fans of

Urban Fantasies with a touch of humour.

Love will Tear us Apart by C. K McDonnell- Book Review.

This urban fantasy made me laugh and tense at the same time- here is my review of the amazing Love will Tear us Apart by C. K McDonell, the third book in The Stranger Times series.

Review

I love a book that can move me to laughter, tears, fear and anger-Love will Tear us Apart by C. K McDonnell the third book in the urban fantasy series The Stranger Times was one of those books.

Continue reading “Love will Tear us Apart by C. K McDonnell- Book Review.”

This Charming Man by C.K Donnell- Book review

The Stranger Times newspaper continues to report strange and weird things in this hilarious urban fantasy set in Manchester- Here is my review of This Charming Man by C.K Donnell.

Review

(may contain spoilers for The Stranger Times

After I finished reading The Stranger Times ( review here) , I had to jump into This Charming Man by C. K Donnell, the second book in this urban fantasy series and I loved it.

I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion,

Continue reading “This Charming Man by C.K Donnell- Book review”

The Stranger Times by C. K McDonnell- Book review

How did I miss The Stranger Times by C.K McDonnell here is my review of this hilarious, action-packed urban fantasy filled with memorable characters and set in Manchester.

The Stranger Times is dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that’s their pitch. The reality is less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered, and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor… well, that job is a revolving door–and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who’s got problems of her own.
When tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job, The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined

Review

One of the amazing joys of being a book blogger is discovering new books that I never would have normally come across. The Stranger Things by C K Mc Donnell was one of those books and I devoured it book in one sitting.

I received a free copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion.

This urban fantasy has everything a cast of memorable characters -I’m not sure if I admire or despise the outspoken, drunk, intelligent Bancroft the trigger-happy editor of The Stranger Times. Grace, Reggie, and Ox form the rest of the team at The Stranger Times newspaper ( funny extracts included in the book) and are all quirky and fascinating characters that bring this urban fantasy to life.

Hannah is the new assistant editor escaping her former life as a socialite and is thrown into a new world of UFOs, aliens and monsters and has a bit of fright when she learns ( along with the rest of the team ) that one of these things is real.

The underlying plot of good vs evil, secret societies and magic are well written and the book has a fresh take on this by basing this in a Northern City in England- Manchester and its people form part of the cast in its own way. The plot and underlying mystery kept me reading right till the end. Some vivid and original descriptions made an impression.

But the main strength of the book is the humour which is truly British ( and Northern) and there were several times when I couldn’t stop laughing.

I have to confess I jumped straight into the sequel The Charming Man as soon as I finished.

Perfect for Fans

The Dresden Files (review here), The Tarot Card Sequence, ( review here) Swashbucklers (review here),Terry Prachett

Content Warning

References to a child’s death