• The Paper Magician
• Maids of Misfortune
• How about some free book promotions to stock up your shelves?
• What are you reading now and what would you recommend? Tell me in the comments.

What more does a girl need than a pile of books and a bowl of chocolate? Let’s talk about what we’ve been reading and feeding our inner chocoholics.

So are you the kind of reader who reads just one book at a time or do you have multiple books going at once? I never thought much about that question until I saw a Facebook meme about ‘double-booking’. My first thought was “people don’t do that?” and my second was “is that a bad thing?”

To answer my own questions, I definitely do it, and for me it is a good thing. These days I find I usually have 4 to 6 books going at once, usually all in different genres. When I settle down to read in the evening I read a chapter or two out of each until I get to the last quarter or so of the book when the ‘final chase scene’ has begun and you can’t put it down. Then I’ll usually finish the book in a single sitting.

I know that’s crazy-making for some people, but I’ve discovered it actually works for me. Especially when a book is feeling a little slow and I’m considering consigning it to the DNF pile. A little break with another book makes me a lot more willing to pick it up again. Weird, I know, but what can I say?

Here are a couple of my recent favorites, that definitely didn’t flirt with the DNF pile. Perhaps they sound like your cup of tea as well.

Just so you know, links below are Amazon associate links, so if you buy anything through them, I will get a couple of pennies from that.

The Paper Magician

This gaslamp fantasy sets up a world where magicians are limited to practicing their magic on a particular substance. Our heroine Ceony Twill graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, but all is not well. It is time for her internship, when she will bond to a substance upon which she will practice her magic for the rest of her life. She dreams of bonding to metal, but the land is desperately short of paper magicians, so she is assigned to intern with Paper Magician Emery Thane, crushing her dreams forever. Naturally she learns there is far more to Emery Thane and paper magic than she ever expected, things she desperately wants to learn–if she can keep the assassins at bay.

The concept of magic being tied to substances isn’t a new one, but tying it to paper was a unique approach, so I was intrigued. I admit I kind of fell in love with the oragami-brought-to-life creations that populated Thane’s home.

Ceony proved to be an interesting heroine, willing to grow, learn, and face her own limitations, and she got to be brave and daring, too. What’s not to enjoy about that? Although Ceony battles to prevent the Paper Mage’s murder, the story manages not to be gory or especially violent, not an easy balace to manage. And since I was not in the mood for violent gore, I really enjoyed the tale.

Definitely have added this to my ‘continue the series’ pile.

Maids of Misfortune

This historical cozy mystery is set in San Franscisco during the summer of 1879. Recently widowed Annie Fuller, has been struggling since her husband’s suicide five years early, after he squandered her fortune. One of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off his debt. But the boarding house is not her only source of income. A brilliant financial analyst in a world where women cannot possibly play in that field, she disguises herself as a spiritualist, offering advice from the spirits, and guiding the fortunes of several clients. When one of those clients dies unexpectedly things Annie cannot let the matter lie.

Annie Fuller hooked me as a heroine pretty quickly. I loved her creative solution to working in the feild in which she excelled while in a world that did not except woman as experts in anything to do with money. She’s smart and creative and gutsy, though she does tend to get in over her head when she is determined. But luckily, there is a handsome young lawyer, willing to accept her for who she is, to lend a hand when things get out of hand.

There were moments when I got a little frustrated with Annie because she felt a little too in a hurry to jump into risky situations and just a mite too stubborn. But in the end I enjoyed her willingness not to crumble in the face of serious odds, and her openness to see her own faults. It runs a mite slow in some spots, but overall, it was a fun, cozy read.

How about some free book promotions to stock up your shelves?

From this one I got The Fairy Godmother College and The Clockwork Catherdral. Looking forward to reading them.

From this one I got The Cornelius Saga and The Price of Saffron. The later of which I have already read and enjoyed. Hurry on this one as it’s over March 15.

What are you reading now and what would you recommend? Tell me in the comments.