Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

An absolutely fabulous book with deep character development and a beautifully realized world built carefully by Diana Wynne Jones (DWJ).

Sophie is the oldest of three girls. As the oldest, she knows that she is not going to become successful in life. That's just the way it is. And when the Witch of the Waste puts a spell on her, making Sophie appear as an old woman to everyone (even herself), Sophie knows it's time to just give up and go to the castle of the evil Wizard Howl. It's rumored that he eats young girls. But Sophie's not a young girl anymore, so what can it hurt?

Inside the moving castle, Sophie makes herself at home (against the wishes of everyone there). We meet characters like Michael Fisher, Howl's apprentice and Calcifer, the demon who seems to be linked to Howl (though neither seems to want to be linked still). We also find out what happened to Sophie's sisters as well as her (evil?) stepmother.

A fantastic book that just gets better every time I read it. A strong female character whose main flaw in life is that she can't imagine any other way than what "has to be" and comes to realize that she has her own strengths and might just be able to make her own way in the world. And maybe even rescue her handsome prince...

Five stars

This book came out April 1986

Followed by Castle in the Air

Borrowed as audiobook from Cloud Library

Opinions are my own

When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz

 The book opens, not unlike many of Krentz's contemporaries, with a murder. We see it through the eyes of the killer. And it seems rather obvious who the killer is as the book goes on, but this is a Krentz novel.
To that end, we do get a hero and heroine. Max Cutler is a former profiler. A case went horribly wrong, stirring up ghosts from his past, and he decided (or the decision was made) for him to leave D.C. He ended up in Seattle, working as a private investigator. His current case involves a dead woman who the police believe to have died from an overdose. Her cousin isn't so sure. He things it's murder. 
Normally Charlotte Sawyer considers herself fairly boring. She works in a nursing home as an the activities coordinator. It's true that her former fiance left her at the altar, but she's working to get over that.  Charlotte step-sister, Jocelyn, says that she is too trusting, and Charlotte agrees. But it doesn't follow that she is also stupid. 
Max and Charlotte's paths cross when Charlotte, watching Jocelyn's house while she's on a tech-free month-long retreat, is the one who picks up the package sent to Jocelyn from the dead woman.  A packages that sends her on an adventure. 
Regular Krentz readers will definitely enjoy the book. It's very much in the rhythm of her recent contemporaries. The love story was a bit fast and furious and the multiple "epilogues" were a bit tedious but overall a fast and fun read. I do hope we get to hear about Max's brothers, Cabot and Jack and find out whether the guru Zane really did die.

Three and a half stars
Followed by Promise Not to Tell
This book came out November 29th, 2016
Audiobook from Cloud Library

Opinions are my own