Gray Days by Hailey Edwards is the ninth audiobook in the Black Hat Bureau fantasy series. The Black Hat compound is in ruins and someone has declared open season on agents. Rue has to deal with a surprise visit all while putting out fires and proving herself. Plenty of twists kept me listening.
by Hailey Edwards
Series: Black Hat Bureau #9
Narrator: Stephanie Richardson
Length: 9 hours and 46 minutes
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Publisher
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
Heat Level:
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x
The Black Hat compound is rubble on the ocean floor, the director hasn’t been seen since the explosion that demolished his life’s work, and old enemies have decided it’s open season on the remaining agents. Oh. And Arden has decided now is a great time for a surprise visit to force a confrontation with Rue.
Between holding the Bureau together, searching for her grandfather, and babysitting Arden, Rue has her work cut out for her. But her distraction allows her to be blindsided by a loss that fractures her very soul. Betrayal is a familiar sting for Rue, she barely feels it anymore, but this time? She might not survive it.
The story took a minute to develop, but once it did, we were off and running with Rue and her motley crew as agents end up dead and she finds herself in charge at the Bureau with her grandfather missing and assumed dead.
Action-packed with character growth and relationship development, it is important to listen to this series in the order of their release. This novel is longer than its predecessors and for a minute I thought this might be the conclusion of the series. Particularly with the growth in Rue. Our witch has come a long way, but a twist and development at the end left us with a cliffhanger that has me craving Gray Dawn, the last installment in the Black Hat Bureau series.
If you love mystery, snark, friendship, found families and romance filled with magic, supernatural creatures and more, you’ll want to grab the series. Edwards has created fun, well-developed characters who work well together and bring out the best in each other. I had a blast listening to Gray Days and highly recommend it.
About Hailey Edwards
Hailey Edwards writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy. She lives in Alabama with her husband, their daughter, and a herd of dachshunds.
About Stephanie Richardson
Stephanie Richardson records audiobooks from her professional home studio near the mountains in Utah. She places a special emphasis on bringing positive and wholesome content in the world and records work in a variety of nonfiction and fiction genres, including self-development, memoir, children's and young adult, and cozy mystery. She has trained with award-winning narrators PJ Ochlan and Sean Pratt and was awarded the ABR award for best mystery in 2020. While not enjoying a book, she can be found playing zoo-keeper to her four rambunctious children, playing nerdy board games, or talking to her plants.
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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram
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Ethan
The character growth and relationships sound compelling, especially with that cliffhanger ending!
ailyn koay
“took a minute to develop”, I cackle when you said that. It’s like, hey everything is going to be fine, but we know it’s a lie!
Mary Kirkland
Sounds really good. I love a good mystery too.
Sophia Rose
Sounds like the stakes were pretty high in this one. All to the good. 🙂
Nadene
Glad to know the series is still going strong. Great review, Kim.
Anne- Books of My Heart
I got this one in a giveaway! So now I’ll have to get around to reading the series. I’m so happy to see you rate it well.