| Title | : | Black Hat, White Witch (Black Hat Bureau, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | First published June 28, 2021 |
Well, Rue Hollis spent ten years thinking she had escaped the Black Hat Bureau, no coffin required.
Then her former partner had to go and shatter the illusion by showing up on her doorstep with grim tidings. As much as Rue wants to kick him to the curb, she agrees to hear him out for old times’ sake, and what he says chills her to the bone.
The Silver Stag was the most notorious paranormal serial killer in modern history, and Rue brought him down. Now a copycat has picked up where the Stag left off, and the Bureau wants her on the case. She beat the Stag once. They think she can do it again. But they don’t know she’s given up black magic, and she’s not about to tell them. White witches are prey, and Rue is the hunter, not the hunted. Always.
But can she take down the protégé of the man who almost beat her at her black witch best?
If she wants to keep her new town, her new home, her new life, then she has no choice but to find out.
Black Hat, White Witch (Black Hat Bureau, #1) Reviews
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Black Hat, White Witch by Hailey Edwards
Black Hat Bureau #1. Urban fantasy.
Rue is doing her best to be a White Witch. But when her former partner shows up outside her shop, she’s drawn into her Black Witch past.
A magical serial killer hunt.
Rue’s familiar is a 10 year old child, stuck at that age forever and in the form of a moth the size of a cat. I don’t want to picture that but throughout the book, Colby is consistently in Rue’s hair, or clinging to Rue, or slapping into Rue. She also spends a lot of time gaming. It’s an interesting dynamic.
Clay, the former partner is an animated golem and his current partner is a daemon.
It’s a tense story as they use their magic to find the killer. A bit of sadness and guilt in the familiar, with small patches of humor in her age and habits. An introduction of potential romance for future books.
I will read more to see how these characters evolve. -
Rue Hollis is an interesting protagonist, at least for me. She used to be a mover and shaker in the magical enforcement world as a black witch. Which apparently means she ate the hearts of her foes to gain their power. Only something happened on her last case involving another black witch that both left her disgusted with that line of power and made her responsible for his last victim. So she foreswore the black witchcraft in favor of the much less powerful white witching and with a bound familiar that was her last-ditch effort to save that last victim. So she has a moth familiar who is what's left of the ten year-old fae girl she "saved" and that relationship was everything to my engagement with the story.
Not that there weren't other things pulling me in. I like Rue and her old partner Clay (a golem of the traditional sort) and her new partner-by-extension Asa (a half-fae, half-demon with glorious hair). These relationships sparkled with interesting back-and-forth. And the plot was nicely handled as a copycat to Rue's last case shows up with icky death-dealing to pursue.
But really, I was all-in on Colby (Rue's moth familiar) and her online gaming and innocent patter and miss smarty fuzzy butt (because moths don't wear pants so smarty pants doesn't apply). Rue obviously loves Colby with what's left of her blackened heart and her attempts to give Colby the life that was stolen from her were adorable. I never knew how cute a moth could be until Edwards imbued this one with the charm and innocence of a ten year-old smart aleck.
On its own, this would probably warrant four stars for an interesting plot and some fun companions. But Colby makes it impossible for me not to go the full five. I can't wait to see what the next story has to offer.
A note about Chaste: Rue is kind of an emotional recluse and the plot doesn't give them much time to develop anything romantic. But I loved Asa's sly courtship as Rue piques his interest. There's nothing sexual at all, so it's pretty chaste. But I found what was there charming and I'm intrigued to see it develop in future stories. -
As much as I like this author's books I don't think I enjoyed this one.
The heroine is a reformed black white, she used to eat the heart of her victims(who were usually serial killers/murderers etc) but now she is strictly vegetarian because she bonded with one of the victims of a serial killer.
I got tired of that pretty quickly especially because we were told that she would have been stronger if she was a black witch. I couldn't understand why she wasn't a black witch, yes she was addicted to eating hearts but they were the hearts of killers who were going to get killed anyway by the authorities( which she is a part of). I didn't get it.
I didn't really connect with Asa but he's the reason I am going to read the next book, I am curious to see how their relationship play out. -
One of those series I call bubble gum reads🙂. They are pleasant, but somewhat not quite there books, which I enjoy for the days my brain can't concentrate on something more complicated or involved... Good for what they are 😊
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Mind blowing
A completely new series by Hailey edwards has me swooning for this author again! The humor of Asa and Rue. Daemons can be lovable, who would have thought. The friendship of Rue and Clay. Indestructible friends. The inevitable outcome between Rue and Colby. It’s all so book worthy. And then of course, we have the ending. The phone rings, an unsuspecting character comes in to play that Rue insults and then hides. The excitement to see who this could be is nerve wracking! This book had dilemma, sadness, betrayal, mystery, and comedy. Packs a big punch. -
Thrice Confused
When I read the teaser for Thrice Cursed, I immediately preordered the book. Then the book release was cancelled for a major rewrite. Unfortunately I could not read this book without mentally comparing it to the teaser for Thrice Cursed.
*Caution spoilers ahead.
I had a hard time connecting to the book. Something about it left me feeling nonplussed and more than a little disoriented. The whole thing felt rushed and/or cobbled together. The exposition didn’t give me a clear sense of Rue, the town where Rue lived, the store where she worked, her neighbours, home, or Colby. (She has a feisty neighbour shoots people and has shotgun decals to match her gun to her clothes?). The first introduction of Asa didn’t include any description of him other than that he was handsome. I didn’t get the sense that Clay was supposed to be passing as human until 3/4 of the way through the book. He’s as tall as Sun Mingming, outweighs Shaquille O’Neill by more than 100lbs, and wears wigs every day. He sounds like the Marvel character Thing only wearing a wig. When the author later had Asa reappear the phrasing regarding his hair and jewelry made me think he was Native American rather than fae. When he transforms to his daemon form (that seems to bear a strong resemblance to Surtur from Thor:Ragnarok with Crystal Gayle hair) the daemon is still wearing his pants? Is he wearing shoes, too? I couldn’t envision it. And why does everyone refer to his daemon form as though it’s a completely separate entity? Repeatedly, throughout the whole book I kept having to go back and reread sentences to make sense of the plot and characters in order to orient myself. (She put her hand on the handle and the door exploded? The handle in question was to the SUV and the door in question was to the trailer).
As for the central mystery, I had a hard time understanding why the original serial killer needed to transform the souls into deer to hunt, kill, and consume the souls. I got that the author wanted to impress upon readers that the killer was hunting the girls, but remaking them into deer after he already hunted and kidnapped them in their normal form? Having studied serial killers as part of my education and consumed more fiction about murder than is probably healthy, the big reveal left me cold. It was the tertiary character that the author went out of their way to introduce at the first crime scene. Not the one named for the famous gun slinger. The other one. Apparently, he admired Rue when she was a ruthless Black witch and wanted to work with her and be like her. Then she left and he waited around twiddling his thumbs for 10 years before deciding to reenact the murders from her last case, at which point he went on a killing spree to get her attention. It’s basically the plot of the movie Copycat. -
Oh. My. Goodness. I'm making the strongest heart eyes a person can make and I don't know if they're doing this story justice. That high-pitched sound you hear? That's me. Squealing with delight. Because YESSSSSSS. More Rue, please.
So, hey. If you couldn't guess, I'm powerfully in like with Rue and her messed-up, mixed-up, trying-to-do-the-right-thing-and-hitting-those-moments-of-struggle-HARD life. She's a compelling mixture of successful (owns her own business, making a difference where she can) and paranoid of what's on her tail from her life before. With good reason. Because the Black Hat Bureau doesn't let go easily and Rue KNOWS they'll come for her at some point. If she's smart and wily, she can keep a step or two ahead.
Until, you know, she can't. When they do catch up with her it's in the form of her former partner and a sexy hunk of a man who puts off more dangerous vibes than most. Which apparently, Rue is a teeny-tiny bit into. AS ONE IS.
Pulled back into a muted version of her old life, Rue does what she can to help those who need it most. She reconnects with old friends, makes some hunky new connections, and sets about chasing down a very bad person before they can strike again.
Is Rue's life a complicated, messed up mess? IT SURE IS. She's trying her hardest to do the right thing and keep herself on the straight and narrow and it's not easy. I must say, I'm absolutely here for her struggle. Because WOW.
-Kelly @
Reading the Paranormal -
Brittany san recommended and she has great taste so
*takes aim*
*tosses to top of TBR* -
3.5 stars
This is the kind of urban fantasy that doesn't really care about world-built, that it just jumps into the story without a lot of description or introduction.
Basically, from what I can assume, Rue used to be a black witch of an agency called Black Hats (she gets her power from eating hearts of evil paranormal creatures, and she is said to be the best and most powerful) but then she decides to go rogue, becoming a white witch (I don't really understand the difference, white witch is good and has familiar, or something like that?) and leave the agency. Black Hats seems like a mafia, where the only way out is to get killed (or terminated by other agents)
And the reason for Rue to leave the agency is because she's taking care of soul, that has been transformed as a cat-size moth (again, I have hard time imagining a talking, playing game online, MOTH) called Colby. Then two Black Hats appeared at Rue's house, saying that there's a copycat killer (from Rue's last case) and they need Rue's help (again, I'm not exactly sure WHY, because the agency seems to have a lot of resources in their disposal, but maybe because Rue eats the killer hearts, she should know him better or something?). So Rue's being pulled back in the game.
Oh and of course one of the agents is handsome, a half-daemon, and probably will be Rue's love interest. Because, why not?
For the most part, I liked this one just enough. I was interested with the serial killer angle, because, well, I love a good old mystery. ALTHOUGH, the identity of the killer and how it ended felt very, VERY flat. Which is too bad because there's a nice twist about the killer before that. But the way it ended? I was like, REALLY? It was over within one paragraph??
But yeah, I'm curious enough to check out the next, shall there be a new one. Edwards has extensive portfolio and I'm too lazy to check those. So I will only keep my eyes on this series for now. -
It kept me partially engaged which means I shall see where it goes next.
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*Source* Kindle Unlimited
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5-4
*Thoughts*
Black Hat, White Witch, is the first installment in author Hailey Edwards Black Hat Bureau. Rue Hollis lives in Samford, Alabama and runs the Hollis Apothecary. She also has a familiar by the name Colby Timms who is a moth the size of a cat. It has been years since Rue found a way to escape the Black Hat Bureau after stopping a serial killer named the Stag who kidnapped girls and transformed them into deer before consuming their souls. Colby would have been one of his victims had Rue not stopped him first.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
https://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/20... -
A witch who's trying to scrub her dark past and live her best life with her gamer moth familiar.
🕯️ urban fantasy mystery series
🕯️ super slow burn romance (aka nothing will probably happen over multiple books)
🕯️ formerly-powerful heroine with a dark past on the run (but maybe she's even stronger withthe power of friendshipher moth familiar...we shall see)
I'm greedy for more romance, but that's just me. The characters are solid and I like the established world. I'll probably continue the series -
Fun! Fun! As always!
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4 stars... I'm writing this review after finishing the first five books of this series. All are available on hoopla as audiobooks (and I think scribd too). 🎉🎉🎉
I'm not going to go heavy on spoilers here, but expect some for the series in general - so don't read this review if that will bother you.
The Black Hat Bureau is a secret paranormal organization that seeks out and punishes members of the paranormal community who are killing indiscriminately, being too violent, or are risking exposing the community to humans. The heroine once worked for the Bureau, but managed to escape when she became a foster mom (of sorts) to a former victim in one of her cases. Since Black Hat is meant to be a life-long assignment, she has had to stay hidden and on the run. The heroine, prior to leaving, was a Black Witch. She gained her power from killing paranormal beings and eating their hearts. She has a very dark past, but has spent the last 10 years reforming and trying to be better for Colby (the adopted victim). The heroine is finally found by her former partner, Clay, and his new partner, Asa (the hero). She agrees to help on a case that is incredibly similar to her final case where she rescued Colby, and from there she re-joins the Black Hat Bureau. She, Asa, Clay, and Colby all work together throughout the series to investigate a different case in each book.
The series is extremely slow-burn, and sometimes (but not always) read like a YA, and that doesn't really change until the end of book 4. There is absolutely nothing sexy in the first couple of books, but the buildup of their relationship is pretty sweet. For a long time, I anticipated when the MCs would finally consummate their relationship - but I expected it to be FTB or closed door - which was not the case. The end of book 4 has a very detailed sex scene, although it's not dragged out like some smuttier reads.
The rest of the series - not dealing with the relationship - is also enjoyable. But this is where I dropped my star rating somewhat. I did feel like some of the storylines were hard to follow, and the narrator of the audiobooks seemed to do a poor job of distinguishing scene changes, so I often felt a little lost until I realized that there was a time jump and scene change. IMO a longer pause would have done the trick! I do enjoy the overarching storyline, but I wish it was moving a little faster towards an outcome.
Overall, if you're a fan of paranormal romance, this is a great series. I'll be continuing on with it past book 5, I feel like I'm hooked and need to see the final outcome.
Safety is very good; heroine very experienced, but she's celibate for the past 10 years (age doesn't work the same for the paranormal community as it does for humans, so she's 60 iirc, but looks and is considered young). Her past sex life was based around having sex for spells and to increase the power of her magic, she has never been with anyone emotionally significant before the hero. Hero is a virgin, he is even older than the heroine, not exactly sure why he stayed a virgin, but there's a small detail about how people who touch him get their hands cut off by invisible guards. 🤣🤣 When the hero sees the heroine, it's basically love at first sight, and he pursues her from there. No major OM/OW drama, no scenes with OM/OW, no cheating. -
Black Hat, White Witch is book one in the Black Hat Bureau series by Hailey Edwards and Narrated by Stephanie Richardson.
This was a decent start to the series. We meet a verity of characters and dive into a case that everyone thought was one thing, but turns out to be another.
Rue is a witch who is trying to be a white witch and has spent the last 10 years hiding from the agency she once worked for. She’s made a home for herself and her familiar Colby Timms. The world-building is solid as we learn Rue's history and reasons for going into hiding.
The banter is delightful and snarky at times. The case was intriguing; with plenty of twists. There is also a potential romance for future books.
Audio: The narration was well done. Stephanie Richardson created unique voices for each character. She captured the case, situations, and the humor.
Black Hat, White Witch was a nice listen and I look forward to listening on.
Rated: 4 Stars
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A reformed black witch who ate the hearts of her enemies to gain more powers, sounds very intriguing. Add it with a moth girl, an enchanted golem and a half fae half daemon. And we have a mystery to solve on who could be this copycat killer trying to get Rue's attention. On to the next book!
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Loved this book, a mind blowing treat for my brain!
With a twist from the normal Hailey Edwards she has brought a refreshing read with Once a Black Hat now a White witch.
Instead of the dialogue, “Oh no why did I do such a bad thing I’m a monster”, you get Rue who has to remind herself that eating human hearts isn’t the direction she’s shooting for anymore.
The serious moments are balanced out nicely with humorous ones, the characters are well written and in general the whole book keeps you invested and wanting more! -
I liked BLACK HAT, WHITE WITCH and it made for an interesting read. The paranormal world isn't overly detailed but it's a good introduction. I thought the idea behind the Black Hat Bureau -- recruiting monsters to hunt monsters -- was fun and I can't resist a paranormal murder mystery so I enjoyed that aspect. Rue was a bit of a surprise, based on the description I thought she would be more gritty and dark, but in reality she's a big old softy. I have a hard time picturing her as the former power hungry, heart devouring black witch that all the other agents were terrified of. Maybe future books will dig into how Rue became a black witch to begin with.
I went into this knowing that the romance wasn't the focus but I was pleasantly surprised with how many smoldering looks, lustful thoughts, and possessive demon growls were included. Nothing physical happens in this book but Rue is definitely attracted to the half fae/half demon Asa and Asa's demon side is definitely interested in Rue if his "courting" is anything to go by. I can't wait to see Rue and Asa's relationship develop because they were actually really cute together. Clay, Rue's old Black Hat partner, and Rue's talking moth familiar Colby were both great side characters that rounded out the cast.
I waffled a bit over my rating and I didn't go higher because there were some background holes that left me with questions that affected my overall understanding of the plot. How did Rue become a black witch to begin with? If Rue was so dangerous and feared why weren't they working a little harder to find her after she disappeared? How exactly does Rue age now that she's not absorbing power from eating hearts, is she immortal or do witches just live for a long time regardless of power level? What was Asa's demon "hunting", does he mean animals or people? How does Colby play her video games and get into pantries as a moth with no hands?
All that being said, the story did keep me engaged and reading and I'm very invested in Rue and Asa's budding romance so I'll definitely be checking out book 2.
Content Warning: brief mention of Asa being conceived from rape; Rue used to eat hearts as a part of her magic and it's often written like an addiction that she has to fight to resist -
Hailey Edwards does it again! I’m so happy to have a new series to be hooked on. ❤️
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Well. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Rue is a very interesting character. No longer a black Witch, but not entirely cemented as a white Witch either, she struggles to keep her...desires in check. I loved her relationship with her familiar, and also with her former partner/Golum Clay. Asa is the unknown quantity but I'm definitely interested to see where that goes. 4.5 stars
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3stars = I liked this, but - and it is a huge 'but'. I liked the set up for the series: a reformed black witch who is trying to stick with white magic, even though it makes her much less powerful, has been in hiding and has carved out a new life for heerself as a shop owner in a small town. The old agency she worked for - they are essentially supernatural cops - has tracked her down because a copycat serial killer is using the same MO as the killer from her final case and they need to find him before he takes his next set of victims. I am not at all fond of serial killer stories and this is even tougher because the victims are Fae girls - children as victims is awful. I understand that the horror of the case in the past was the impetus for the change in the lead who used to regularly power up by eating the hearts of the criminals she caught but still ... yuck. My other nit overall is that her familiar is just darn weird - a perpetual 10 year old stuck in the form of a moth.
While I had issues with this episode, I am intrigued by the cast: the reformed black witch, her golem past-and-again-partner, and her new half fae/ half demon partner, her next door neighbor a granny who totes a shotgun color coordinated to her outfits. I do like author Edwards story telling overall and have enjoyed many of her other series, so I will read the next book and hope for a better case next time. -
I liked this one, but I feel like I should have liked it more. I also feel like there should have been a story before this one, where Rue and Colby met maybe or more adventures of their lives before this, something because it felt like I came into this one late, despite it being a 1st book in the series.
I liked the life that Rue was building for herself and Colby, it seemed like they found the right place to live, the shop, the neighbors, it was perfect for them til Rue's old life came a calling. I was all set to despise Clay and Asa, but wound up liking them, especially Clay. I like the history that they had, liked that they knew each other so well they knew what would calm the other down. Asa, being new, is intriguing and I like the attraction that there is between him and Rue. I really liked towards the end that he explained the food thing and also the bracelet, really makes things interesting go forward for them.
The connection between Rue and Colby is great, even if knowing the start if it breaks my heart. I'm kinda glad that Rue was forced into using Colby more as a familiar, I think they both could use that change, but it would mean they wouldn't have to separate, like they did when Rue was working this case. I really hated who the bad guy ended up being and why, hate how power really corrupts some people.
While I did have issues with this one, I do look forward to reading the next book, I want to see how all of these relationships change. -
Awesome starter to a new series that is loosely set in the fabulous “Necromancy” and “Potentate” worlds! It is everything we love about Ms. Edwards writing all rolled into another scrumptious escape!!
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This was fun. As was the running hair joke. Good audiobook as well.
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Five Caffeinated Reasons to listen to Black Hat, White Witch
1. Rue Hollis lives in Samford, Alabama and runs the Hollis Apothecary. Rue is a witch who has spent 10 years hiding from the agency she once worked for. She has made a home for herself and her familiar Colby Timms, a moth the size of a cat. All of that changes when her partner shows up on her doorstep informing her that there is a copycat killer of the Silver Stag. Before going into hiding, Rue took down the notorious killer who kidnapped young girls, Colby was one of them. And right away I was hooked.
2. Unique characters are one of Edwards’ gifts and I loved Rue and Colby immediately, not to mention Clay, her handsome ex-partner and Asa, his new non-human partner. Delightful banter, snark and respect made for an exciting listen.
3. The world-building is strong as we learn along the way, from Rue's history and reasons for going into hiding to the last case she worked. The Black Hat Bureau was intriguing and I am looking forward to more cases.
4. .The case was intriguing, with plenty of twists and unexpected happenings. I love when a storyline hooks you and the author pulled me in from the start. Is this the work of one killer or a team? Can they stop him before it’s too late? Has this killer lured them away from the one that got away?
5. The narration was fantastic! Stephanie Richardson created unique voices for each of the characters, making listening a pleasure. I loved how she captured the snark, intense situations and gave voice to Colby.
This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer -
"Black Hat, White Witch" by Hailey Edwards was fun! There's serious stuff in there, along with some awesome world-building, but what I enjoyed was the positive sense of humour and love. Plus, I was absolutely obsessed with learning what was going on with Ace and his daemon's reaction to Rue. Perfect balance of character relationships (including mysterious backstory and banter) and action. Original and enjoyable urban fantasy.
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I’ll definitely be following this series.
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I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would after i first started it. So many puzzles pieces came together. To make it way more enjoyable for me! -
4 Stars…Really enjoyed this read much more the second time through… Will definitely continue the series:)
