Gabrielle's Reviews > Stacked

I decided to reread one of my favorite books with some of my favorite tropes—best friends to lovers with heavy codependency. Sawyer and Preston was such a sweet reread. Just what I needed.

Sawyer and Preston started out as roommates when they were younger to best friends and eventually to lovers. Sawyer has been pining after Preston for years. The codependency was super heavy and I LOVED It. Preston was so touchy-feely that I think a part of him always felt something for Sawyer. He didn’t understand social cues, and he didn’t perceive it in that way due to being autistic. His autism was undiagnosed. His parents were, ugh! They didn’t like the results, and therefore he wasn’t diagnosed with it.

Sawyer, thinking he would never have his best friend romantically slept around, but it never changed how he felt for Preston. A new member of the gym who is also working with Preston sparks a possessiveness in Preston that always made me smile.

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 “𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥” 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐅𝐢𝐭𝐳. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐅𝐢𝐭𝐳 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞. 𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞,” 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤. “𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

I adored them. 🥹 Preston was just so precious with all of his clinginess, and Sawyer with the way he was a caretaker. Preston didn’t understand things in a way others would, so he was all in his head a lot. I just wanted to hug him until he understood. He was so proud of himself when he ordered food for Sawyer. He was so precious.

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐮𝐧𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫.

𝐈 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭.

They were the perfect match.

𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞.

I just loved how Sawyer was always there for Preston. Even though his pining. When Preston finally understood that he was also in love with Sawyer, it made me smile so big. I was so proud when Preston stood up to his parents. More so his father. This was and probably always will be my favorite Linden Bell book.