Review: A Hundred Hours of Night by Anna Woltz

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

I felt this story really focuses as the city as it's own character. I agree that it is very much a love letter to New York as the publisher has indicated and it's written in a way that you really do feel like your there, visualizing the streets, smells and weather as it takes place.

Emilia runs away from home, sneakily getting onto a flight to New York she lands only to discover the place she thought she had rented to stay at turned out to be a scam and the current residents are not going to let her stay. Finding herself in a complex situation she is able to find a place to stay the night and soon makes friends with them, they let her stay.

This is not only Emilia's story but those of the three people she meets while in New York and becomes good friends with. During the days of Hurricane Sandy in which power is down and stores, transportation and wi-fi are hard to find. These three get close and learn about each other, their quirks, their differences and especially their comfort in finding each other during a difficult time.

I'm not sure if this book is for everybody, but I believe that young readers that have an interest in New York may enjoy the story, it was a cute story with interesting characters. I thought there would be more drama in the fact that Emilia runs away...from another country...to NEW YORK..alone. But this story takes a less intrusive (lighter) reflection of her family life.

During the time Emilia is in New York, hurricane

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published May 10th 2016 by Arthur A. Levine Books