Review: Something Special by Tiffany Patterson

Something Special by Tiffany Patterson
Published by Amazon Digital Services LLC on January 24, 2018
Genres: African American, Romance
Pages: 329
Format: eBook
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three-stars

Gabriella
I can’t stand him.
Jamal Holmes.
My best friend’s cousin.
So what he may be able to help me finally make the move to get my business off the ground. He’s a pompous jerk and judgmental to boot. At least, those are the very excuses I tell myself to avoid his help at all costs. Now, if I could just get my silly body to stop reacting every time he’s near. If I could manage to control my erotic thoughts whenever he opens his mouth or tosses one of those goofy grins my way, everything would be just fine. Only if he didn’t look so damn good in everything he puts on…

Jamal
I can’t stand her.
Gabriella, Gabby for short.
She’s brash, snarky and seems to have it out for me. A damn she-devil.
I don’t give a damn how great her legs look in the tight jeans and leggings she wears. Or, how appealing her mid-section appears in the halter tops she frequently dons. Nor do I care that her smooth, brown skin always looks good enough to taste. She’s a pain in the ass. At least, I thought she was until I started getting to know her. The real Gabby, and not the defensive, sarcastic, she-devil she initially hid behind to put up a wall between us. Slowly, I start to realize I get under her skin just as much as she gets under mine. And once we finally begin to break those walls down, we are both surprised by what’s underneath. Neither of our attitudes, or our pasts that come back into our lives can come between what’s inevitably … Something Special.

Remember when you were younger and there was a boy that would pick on you in school all the time and you thought he hated you but he didn’t? He was just a mean prick because he had feelings for you and didn’t know how to say so?

Well, Gabby and Jamal were the grown-up version of that, in Tiffany Patterson’s Something Special. They were at each other’s throats every single time they were in the same vicinity. Insults and barbs were traded without question and while everyone around them knew it was only a matter of time before they admitted they had feelings for each other, they vehemently denied it.

However, if their friends were betting people, they would’ve won big.

One night Jamal saves Gabby from a potentially bad situation at a bar and things take off from there. A kiss leads to civil conversation and then help with Gabby’s business plan. Soon these two realize they’re onto something special.

Some would say these two had a good bit of baggage between them. Jamal was in the midst of expanding his financial planning company and still having an awkward and strained relationship with his father after watching a troublesome marriage end in divorce. Gabby has a lot of past hurt in her life that she tries to mask behind a million jobs and her seemingly outgoing personality.

These two are the perfect match for each other though. Gabby turns Jamal on his head and forces him to reevaluate all her preconceived notions about what his wife should look and act like. Gabby initially thinks Jamal is uptight and unable to handle a woman like her. He proves her wrong with his authoritativeness yet gentle and passionate demeanor.

The past comes knocking once again, and while it was quite predictable, I figured it out in the first chapter, it added a mystery element to the novel that could have stopped the progress in Jamal and Gabby’s relationship as soon as it started. Open communication and Jamal’s insistence on doing all he could to protect the woman he never thought he would like but cannot live without, stops this from happening.

I would’ve loved to give it a higher rating but there were too many pacing and editing issues for me to overlook.

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.