Third Degree by Julie Cross

Third Degree
By Julie Cross
Published: March 25, 2014
Publisher: Flirt
Stand-Alone
Pages: 240

Fans of Monica Murphy and Tammara Webber will savor this New Adult novel—a story about coming of age in the heat of the moment—from Julie Cross, the internationally bestselling author of the Tempest trilogy.

I used to be “Isabel Jenkins, child prodigy.” As lame as that sounds, at least it was an identity. But now I’m not sure what I am. I just failed the most important exam of my life—the emotional readiness test required to get into a medical residency program—and it turns out my parents can’t stand each other. Now I’m trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of my life, and that means re-enrolling as a college freshman, but this time I’m shutting the books and majoring in being eighteen.

But so far, my roommate hates me and I’m not into the party scene. The only good thing about school has been getting to know my insanely hot RA. Marshall Collins makes me wonder about everything I missed while I was growing up too fast. Pretty soon we’re hanging out constantly, but for the first time, I find myself wanting more than a no-strings-attached physical relationship. And the lesson I really need is one Marsh definitely can’t teach me: love. Because I’m going to be alone forever if I don’t learn fast.

*Novel provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

My Rating: 4.5 stars

My Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It has definitely earned a place on my favorite new adult books.  
I really loved all of the characters in this book.  I could see people not really being able to relate to Izzy, but I'm very similar to her, we both are kind of isolated and don't really interact with people.  We're kind of emotionally detached from the rest of the world and we process things in a very statistical and analytic way.  Of course, my IQ isn't quite as high as her's, nor do I have a photographic memory but we so think in a very similar manner.  I thought that her growth from the beginning of the book where she was very cold and emotionless to the end of the book where she gained so much empathy and understanding for what the patients she was caring for are going through progressed very naturally and was interesting to read about.  I also loved all of her random medical facts, those were super interesting and the way she would just kind of throw them out into a conversation at the most inopportune times reminded me of myself because that's something that I do all the time.  I also loved that she was a hacker because I thought that that brought a closer focus on the ethical side of the medical field.  Marshall I also really liked.  I thought his character was very sweet and complemented Izzy's perfectly.  I also liked that their relationship was very adult and essentially the opposite of most new adult romances because though there was always a physical attraction between them, they didn't act on it until a more emotional attraction had developed, whereas in most new adult novels, it starts off as a purely physical relationship and then evolves into a more emotional one.  The only thing that kind of irritated me about Marshall was that I felt that there were times when he knew that he was pushing himself farther than was healthy but he did it anyway because he didn't want to appear to be weak.  Though I understand why he did it, I wish that he hadn't.  I also really liked Kelsey, I thought that she was really funny and I liked Marshall's siblings as well, I thought that they were very supportive of him.  
The plot was fast-paced and engaging.  A lot of romances tend to be very angsty and have a lot of unnecessary drama, but that wasn't an issue at all in this book.  Everything that happened I was 100% interested and I thought that the ending was a perfect conclusion.  Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone, though you need to be comfortable reading sex scenes, though they aren't nearly as descriptive as other new adults I've read.  Even if you don't normally like contemporary, still pick it up.  It's a fast and easy read and I think that anyone could enjoy this.

Thanks for reading!
Amber