Review: A really fun romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2014
At twenty-three, Morgan’s never really done the dating thing.  She hasn’t really done the guy thing at all, and it’s time she crawl out of her cat lady cave and see what’s out there.  But dating is a lot harder than she expected, with two blind dates, a maybe date, and a run-in with an old high school classmate at a business convention.  Her blind dates are both duds, one being a complete jerk while the other is simply too nice.  And her maybe date is drop dead gorgeous, seemingly her perfect man, but she can’t get clear read on him for a while.  And then there’s the old classmate, who professes to have had a crush on her in school, though his popular jock life was so far removed from hers that they only ever spoke a few words, and she never realized he even knew her name.But... According to my Kindle, I was 40% through the story before I felt a real connection.  Prior to that, I was interested enough to keep reading, but I was beginning to wonder if I’d feel disconnected throughout the whole book.  The secondary characters, the dialog with her friends, the narration… It all felt more like I was being told about something than actually seeing it in my mind.  I’m not sure if it was just my mood at the time or a flaw in the writing, so I’m curious to see what others who’ve read the book think.The Verdict:  Well, this was only supposed to be a spotlight,  but I noticed the book on sale for a steal of a price, and since the synopsis was intriguing, I went ahead and grabbed it.  It took me a bit longer than usual to really get into this story, but once I was in, I wasn’t coming out until I’d read every last page of it.From the synopsis, I had it in my head that that Morgan was going to be unbelievably naive, but she really surprised me.  Morgan is a twenty-something-year-old virgin, and for the first time in her life, she’s opened herself up to dating.  When Morgan’s friends tell her that most guys expect the third date to lead to be, she’s not so much scandalized as she is concerned.  She’s never made it to the third date before, and she doesn’t know where to start, much less how not to appear completely inept in the bedroom.But she’s not really that attached to keeping her virginity, either, and she even considers giving it up just to get it out of the way. She thinks Grant just may be the perfect guy for her, and when they seem to hit it off, a comfortable relationship begins.  But then there’s Brad, the guy who got all the girls in high school and is paying attention to her now when they unexpectedly run into each other at a business convention.  But Brad’s moving to Portland, and his attention and attraction to her, the perpetually shy girl, doesn’t really make sense to her.Her inability to clearly see the two makes perfect sense.  After all, we all have an idea of what the perfect man should be, and that’s a hard image to let go of, even when things don’t end up being perfect.  Instead of giving up on him, Morgan compensates and concedes, striving to compromise instead of walking away over little things.  She can’t get Brad out of her mind, though, and having seen their brief and casual fling, I certainly can’t blame her.Third Date is a really fun romance complete with all the usual getting-to-know-you issues that couples have to navigate, and despite the unusual circumstance of being a twenty-something year old virgin, Morgan is very believable and easy to relate to.  Grant and Brad are also both easy to love, though completely different, and even though I now know who she chose and see the wisdom in it, it was great to read a story that really required a choice instead of throwing in some crazy drama to force a move.