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Up Close and Personal
Up Close and Personal
Jan 15, 2026 6:08 AM

Author:Leonie Fox

Up Close and Personal

Juliet, Nicole and Yasmin. Best Friends Forever. Stunning, sexy and anything but sensible.

Yasmin is a straight-talking game player who's got no-strings sex down to a T. So why is she suddenly craving commitment from the one man she can't have?

Nicole is trapped in a passionless marriage but tangled up in a passionate affair. Should she risk the safety of her happy-ever-after for something that's oh so sexy but oh so risky?

They both envy Juliet who seems to have it all. She's bagged a gorgeous toyboy of a husband but is she still entertaining naughty thoughts about a dangerous old flame?

These girls will go to the ends of the earth for one another . . . and any lengths to get their men. But when everything starts to unravel, will they chose close friendship - or sex?

Reviews

A romp of naughtiness to be devoured and delighted in

—— Sun

A weird and hugely enjoyable blend of Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudon and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus

—— New Statesman

With this bold, inventive book, Harris confirms her position as one of Britain's most popular novelists... Fans will be delighted by the way this novel complements her earlier works. At the same time, the author's experiments with structure and voice ensure this story is fresh and compelling

—— Daily Mail

Hugely enjoyable... Both consoling and wise

—— Amanda Craig , New Statesman

With this bold, inventive book, Harris confirms her position as one of Britain's most popular novellists... Fresh and compelling

—— Daily Mail

Highly enjoyable

—— Independent on Sunday

Brilliant... An imaginative, colourful page-turner

—— Choice Magazine

Her writing is as wonderful as ever ... You won't be able to tear yourself away

—— Glamour

A compelling blend of murder, lies and revenge. A novel full of intrigue and suspense

—— Waterstone's Book Quarterly

If you enjoyed Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, you are certainly ready to embark on this journey back to war-torn France, an unresolved past and a fraught future

—— Oxford Times

Evocative descriptions of food and rural France are what we have come to expect from the best-selling author of Chocolat. With recipes and luscious depictions of food, this is the perfect book for a gastronome

—— Eve Magazine

Harris's prose is deeply evocative - the scent of freshly baked bread, fruit and wine and oranges rises off the pages. Darker than her other novels and less sentimental, this is a wonderful book; don't miss out

—— Image Magazine

Harris presents a complicated but beautiful tale involving misfortune, mystery and intense family relations ... This intense work brims with sensuality and sensitivity

—— Publishers Weekly

Rich in detail, engaging all the senses and drawing one compulsively on to the unexpected climax

—— Time Out

As lyrically succulent as Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, this book probes darker corners of loss, enmity and betrayal

—— P S Magazine

Hugely enjoyable

—— Sunday Mirror

Vastly enjoyable, utterly gripping

—— The Times

A dark, gripping tale of how smell leads to tragedy and murder. Harris's vividly sensual account of a nine-year-olds loves, loyalties and misunderstandings is a powerful and haunting story of childhood betrayal

—— Good Housekeeping

Five Quarters of the Orange completes a hat-trick of food-titled tales with a riveting story about a young girl brought up in occupied France who's now an old woman harbouring a terrible secret. Harris is light-years ahead of her contemporaries. She teases you with snippets of a bigger story, gently pulling you in with her vivid descriptions of rural France until you can actually smell the oranges. Read it

—— Now Magazine

Beautifully told, it's a haunting and tantalizing tale that stays with you long after turning the last page

—— Mirror

The luscious prose, abounding in culinary metaphors and similes, which made Chocolat so readable, is once more in evidence ... a satisfying page-turner

—— Irish Examiner

This shape-shifting drama switches easily between Occupied France and the present day. Recipes for luscious meals and homebrewed liqueurs interlace a storyline that spoons suspense and black humour into the blender in equal measure

—— Irish Independent

Harris is an acute observer of the lush French countryside, and her descriptions of it are a delight ... A luscious feast of a book

—— Literary Review

Joanne Harris's rather brilliant Five Quarters of the Orange is a fascinating page-turner with a compelling climax ... This is an absolutely remarkable book that deserves to be read over and over again

—— Punch

Harris' love affair with food and France continues. Savour it

—— Family Circle

Harris evocatively balances the young Framboise's perspectives on life against grown-up truths with compelling, zestful flair

—— Elle

The dreamy and almost fair-tale narrative remains undisturbed by the spectre of the Occupation, as Harris avoids moral or historical themes, to ponder on the internal and social turmoil of the protagonists ... Harris seduces her readers with culinary delights, through suggestive textures and smells which indulge the senses

—— What's On In London

Harris has a gift for injecting magic into the everyday ... She is an old-fashioned writer in the finest sense, believing in a strong narrative, fully rounded characters, a complex plot, even a moral

—— Daily Telegraph

Gripping ... Harris is on assured form

—— The Sunday Times
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