"Charmed Thirds" is the third series of novels by author Megan McCafferty. The story follows the main character, Jessica Darling, as a college student at Columbia University. Jessica is studying to be a psychologist, but she is also an avid writer. The book chronicles her three and half years attending Columbia through letters to her best friend, Hope, her off again-on again boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, and Jessica's journal entries.

When the novel first opens, Jessica is heading home to Pineville, New Jersey on a break from school. When she arrives in her hometown, it's just as she has left it. She finds it strange to back home without her boyfriend, Marcus Flutie there at the same time. Eventually, Marcus does arrive, and he and Jessica pick up right where they left off before she headed off to Columbia and he headed off to his Gakkai college program in California. During the novel, Marcus and Jessica have their ups and down, including Jessica cheating on Marcus with a guy that lives in her dorm at Columbia.

This coming of age novel shows that even when acquiring higher education, life stills throw curve balls. Jessica deals with her breakup with Marcus, the death of the guy she cheated on Marcus with and three and half years of studying at an ivy league university, to wind up unsure of exactly what it is she wants to do with her life.