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A Hundred Hours of Night by Anna Woltz

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Part love letter to New York, part portrait of a girl and a city in crisis as Hurricane Sandy hits New York City.

When Emilia de Wit ran away to New York City, she planned everything to a T. Plane ticket, purchased. Cute apartment, rented online. Subway map, printed and highlighted. This was no ordinary trip -- this was Emilia's declaration of independence. Her chance to escape the life her parents were ruining. To get away from the horrible scandal that had rocked Amsterdam, the scandal that was all her dad's fault. To see if her mom, the glamorous, world-famous artist, would even notice.

New York steals Emilia's heart at first sight -- even though absolutely nothing goes to plan. She didn't plan to end up homeless on a stranger's doorstep. She didn't plan to make friends with Seth, Abby, and Jim. And she could never have known that Hurricane Sandy would be barreling up the coast, straight for the city.

All she wanted was to get away from her parents, her problems, her life . . . and when the storm hits and the power goes out, Emilia feels farther from home than she could have imagined.

Goodreads Summary

Emilia's dad screwed up...like really screwed up.  He had an emotional affair with a student of his (underage student) and Emilia, the perfect daughter, couldn't handle it.  To be fair, I don't think I would handle it well, either.  Emilia is OCD and suffers from believing even touching someone could hurt her (the bacteria).  She has a panic attack on the plane.  When she arrives in New York City she discovers that Hurricane Sandy is hitting New York and luckily takes cover with the boy whose apartment she was falsely led to believe she paid for.  Seth and his sister, Abby, help Emilia overcome her extreme OCD habits (to a degree) and her hatred of her former life.  

Emilia's character was nicely developed.  I could read what she was thinking and link it to my own OCD.  I liked the author's approach about OCD because it was done in such a way that it doesn't easily give readers with OCD another habit to contend with.  Sometimes, when books over describe the thought can get stuck and then I regret ever reading the book.  I liked how Emilia handled her dad's scandal in the end.  Seth's quiet support and Abby's mafia-like approach made the book humorous and sweet.  Even Jim's cavalier attitude mixed with read caring was a cute addition.  The book flew by and I liked how Emilia likened her problem to Hurricane Sandy and realized how small hers were.  This was a wonderful summer read.

4 Stars


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