I'm very sad to say that this is NOT the book for me, despite — or, more likely, because of — the film being one of my favorite films of all time. I'd been told by so many people over the years that the book and film are very different stories, and that's true, but that's why this isn't working for me.

I think the biggest struggle I'm having is the fact that Howl/Sophie is one of my favorite OTPs ever, and I went into this book hoping for more of the instant chemistry between them that we see in the film; instead, they've barely interacted at this point and most of the character development surrounding Howl has just been discussions of how he constantly falls in and out of love with other women (which honestly makes it VERY difficult to imagine the two of them having any longevity in the end, given how he has a long streak of falling out of love as soon as the feelings are reciprocated).

If you're going into Howl's Moving Castle for the whimsy and fantasy, I'd give the book a try, but if you're like me and primarily love the film's romance, I'd avoid the source material. As much as it disappoints me to DNF this, I have mostly hated this book so far and can't foresee it redeeming itself enough to be worth how grumpy it's making me. 😅