Confined Desires

by Katherine McIntyre

4 out of 5

Synopsis

Sky’s crush on her best friend has always been unrequited… until they’re stuck in quarantine together and sparks fly.

Sky’s high school bestie is moving back to the area and staying with her for a few weeks. Easy, right? Not when she’d held a torch for the woman since high school. The moment Mia walks through Sky’s door, those unrequited feelings return full-force. So, when a spreading virus keeps them confined in Sky’s apartment even longer, Sky is screwed.

Mia returns home after a bad breakup, but Sky is the only one who offers a safe place to land. However, the seven years they spent apart has her looking at her best friend through a different lens, attraction sparking with every inside joke, shared dinner, and cuddle on the couch.

That flare of desire fast turns physical. They can’t get enough of each other. Yet, whenever Mia tries for the “where is this going” talk, Sky dodges. Sky lost her sister in high school, and ever since, she’s become ace at keeping dates at a distance. Yet if she doesn’t manage to push past her own fears, she might lose her one shot at happiness with the woman she’s waited a lifetime for. 

Review

Sky and Mia were best friends in high school, but lost touch in college. Now they are stuck together during lockdown, can they be more than friends?

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sky stayed in her hometown and  followed her passion for food, training to be a skilled chef and getting her dream job with a fancy restaurant.

She's dated women, but has never been able to commit; partly because none of them will measure up to the fantasies she had about her best friend, who disappeared for 5 years.

Now Mia is back in her life, and Sky has to fight her feelings around her "straight" friend.

Mia left their hometown, mainly to get a break from her mum. She went across the country for college, and stayed there for the sake of her boyfriend and job as a hotshot IT person.

When the relationship breaks down, Mia realises she has nothing left, and is inevitably drawn back home, where she can make a fresh start, and deal with her attraction to her best friend.

Waiting for her house to be ready, Mia moves in with Sky temporarily - although the weeks soon turn to months as a pandemic shuts everything down, and the two women are stuck together.

I thought this was a really sweet story, about two old friends reconnecting, finding out what is different, and how they have changed.

I thought the author did a great job establishing a solid friendship between Mia and Sky, and it was a very real risk that they might lose something precious, and I understood the hesitance to take it to the next level.

This is a character-driven book, focussed on the smaller world we've all been experiencing lately. Unable to physically go to work, unable to see other people. The story is about Sky and Mia's lives within their little flat for a few months. Everything else gets pushed to the background.

I did occasionally wish that the author would explain more of the background stuff. We're told there is a big (non-Covid) pandemic, and everyone has to go on lockdown.

Yes, we can all relate, but nothing more was mentioned. If you're going to create a new pandemic, I'd hope for a bit of information.

It didn't feel like there was ever any question that these two would end up together, and there were no real hurdles to their happiness; but it was just so sweet, I was never bored.

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