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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Blog Tour: White Fur by Jardine Libaire

Author: Jardine Libaire
Publisher: Hogarth
Date of publication: May 2017

A stunning star-crossed love story set against the glitz and grit of 1980s New York City
When Elise Perez meets Jamey Hyde on a desolate winter afternoon, fate implodes, and neither of their lives will ever be the same. Although they are next-door neighbors in New Haven, they come from different worlds. Elise grew up in public housing without a father and didn’t graduate from high school; Jamey is a junior at Yale, heir to a private investment bank fortune and beholden to high family expectations. Nevertheless, the attraction is instant, and what starts out as sexual obsession turns into something greater, stranger, and impossible to ignore.
The unlikely couple moves to Manhattan in hopes of forging an adult life together, but Jamey’s family intervenes in desperation, and the consequences of staying together are suddenly severe. And when a night out with old friends takes a shocking turn, Jamey and Elise find themselves fighting not just for their love, but also for their lives.

White Fur follows these indelible characters on their wild race through Newport mansions and downtown NYC nightspots, SoHo bars and WASP-establishment yacht clubs, through bedrooms and hospital rooms, as they explore, love, play, and suffer. Jardine Libaire combines the electricity of Less Than Zero with the timeless intensity of Romeo and Juliet in this searing, gorgeously written novel that perfectly captures the ferocity of young love.

White Fur is set in the late 80's taking place over one year.  Elise is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and Jamey is a student at Yale who comes from money and privilege.  Told through alternating points of view, the reader gets a glimpse into the year that they found each other and began their unlikely affair when the rest of the world didn't think they should be together. 

I am definitely going to be in the minority when I say I really didn't care for this book. I finished it because I was expecting it to get better.  It never really did for me.   First, I didn't care for the writing style.  At times, it felt like a laundry list of things the characters were doing. That made it drag at times. It also, in a way, prevented me from really getting to know either of the main characters. Second, I never got the sense that they liked each other for much more than sex. Often, Jamey acts like he despises Elise. You all know I am not at all a prude when it comes to sex scenes. but the ones in this book really turned me off.  They were all crude and just not the kind of "love" scene I enjoy reading.

I will say that the 80s references sprinkled throughout the book were fun for me having been an 80s kid.  But really, this story could have taken place in any recent decade.  This book has received rave review from others.  This is one I will have to chalk up to being not for me.  Try it out for yourself, you may like it.


“Each page crackles with the intensity, fury, lust, and pure insane pleasure of first love. Jardine Libaire has written a chronicle of one couple’s wild romance: its highs and lows, its delights and contractions, its beauty and its messiness. A delight to read.”—Nathan Hill, author of The Nix
“Brilliantly written and deeply felt, this is a love story by turns comic and tragic, but always moving. Whether her characters are on the social register or the welfare roll, Libaire is a keen observer of human nature.”—Philipp Meyer
White Fur is glorious: dark, dirty, and sexy, lit up with yearning and raw, young love. Libaire’s sentences left me breathless. This is a Roman candle of a novel. I absolutely loved it.”—Amanda Eyre Ward, author of The Nearness of You and What Was Lost
“This sexy American fairytale about a star-crossed couple solidifies Jardine Libaire’s status as poet laureate of late nights and young love.”—Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead 


About Jardine Libaire


Jardine Libaire is a graduate of Skidmore College and the University of Michigan MFA program, where she was a winner of the Hopwood Award. White Fur is her second novel for adults. She lives in Austin, Texas.

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Connect with Jardine

Jardine Libaire’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Tuesday, May 30th: Books and Bindings
Wednesday, May 31st: Thoughts on This ‘n That
Thursday, June 1st: Palmer’s Page Turners
Friday, June 2nd: Nightly Reading
Tuesday, June 6th: Kahakai Kitchen
Monday, June 12th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, June 13th: Life by Kristen
Wednesday, June 14th: I Brought A Book
Thursday, June 15th: Booksie’s Blog
Wednesday, June 21st: SJ2B House of Books
Thursday, June 22nd: From the TBR Pile
Monday, June 26th: Books a la Mode
Friday, June 30th: Fuelled by Fiction


1 comment:

Ethan said...

I appreciate that you give specific reasons for not enjoying this one. I don't mind a reviewer not liking something, as long as they can say why. Kudos to you. Hopefully the next read will be better :)