Review: Third Degree
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2014
Izzy was a child prodigy who quickly skipped ahead of her peers and into college and now at just 18 she's already part way through her medical degree. She is a brilliant doctor when it comes to diagnosis and treatment, in fact, she has skills beyond her years in a lot of ways but when it comes to bedside manor she is completely lacking. She missed out on socialising with her peers when she was a child and has absolutely no clue how to interact with people. She is completely shocked when she fails the psychological assessment that she needs to continue her medical training but it forces her to get out of her comfort zone and try to learn how to talk to people her own age. Since she can't re-take her assessment for at least 6 months she decides it's about time she experienced a normal college experience and that's where the fun really begins.Marshall is the R.A. at her new college and he seems to be the only person who doesn't immediately walk away from her when she puts her foot in her mouth. In fact, he is willing to help her learn the skills she is so badly lacking. I actually really liked Marshall's character, he helps Izzy to open up and patiently explains the social niceties that most of us pick up at a young age. Izzy is much harder to like, especially at the beginning of the book, but she really grew on me as she started to become more "human" towards the end of the story. Even at the beginning when I didn't like her much I did find her character amusing, she actually reminded me a lot of Amy from The Big Bang Theory - she is is as intelligent as it comes but has absolutely no social graces. She can be very blunt which makes her come across as uncaring but it's more that she has no concept of how her words have the power to hurt others. I have a friend with Asperger syndrome and she is exactly the same, she doesn't mean to be nasty but she doesn't have that filter between her brain and her mouth that most of us have.I've read a lot of stories about geeky guys getting together with one of the popular girls but I can't think of many examples where it is this way around so Third Degree made a nice change for me. The story has a lot of humour and an enjoyable romance and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from Julie Cross in the future.