The fourth and final book in Jay Hogan’s Mackenzie Country series, The Geography of Happiness is an emotional and tender love story that delivers a very long-awaited HEA for a favourite character from the author’s Painted Bay novels. Terry O’Connor will be familiar to readers of that series as the best friend of Judah Madden and the father of Hannah, whose determination to learn to dance despite her JIA (Junior Ideopathic Arthritis) was a major secondary storyline in book one, Off Balance. His romance with flirty vet, Spencer, is swoony and lovely and full of warmth and tender moments of understanding and compassion, but of course it’s not all plain sailing, and there are moments of heartache and sorrow, too.

We meet Terry and Hannah – now a bright, confident and bubbly fourteen-year-old – again as they’re on their way to Miller Station, where Hannah and her mobility dog, Gabby, are going to spend a week working with Zach Lane (The Mechanics of Lust), in order to help prepare Hannah to live away from home when she takes up a scholarship to the Nolan Academy of the Performing Arts the following year. They’re arriving by helicopter, piloted by Zach’s husband, Luke, and are met on touchdown by their hosts, Gil and Holden. As they’re introducing Zach to Gabby and having a chat, a ute bearing the logo of the local veterinary clinic draws up beside them, and Terry watches as Holden and Gil exchange a few friendly insults and jibes with the driver before introducing him. Spencer Thompson is the local vet, and as he shakes Terry’s hand, Terry is surprised to find himself noticing the warmth of his skin and almost blushing at his lingering gaze. Physical attraction isn’t something Terry experiences very often, but there’s no mistaking it, so it’s probably just as well he and Hannah are only in the Mackenzie for a week. Terry doesn’t have room in his already complicated life for any more… complications.

From his previous appearances in the series, we know Spencer has quite the reputation locally as an equal-opportunities (he’s bisexual) lothario. He’s charming, outgoing, and funny, and decided early on in life that relationships weren’t for him. The eldest of four, Spencer was more parent than sibling to his three younger brothers because their parents were always working, and assuming such a lot of responsibilty at such a young age has left him jealously guarding his carefree, unattached life, scared of letting anyone get too close in case they want too much from him. He doesn’t quite know what it is about Terry O’Connor that has him so intrigued – and he probably won’t get the chance to find out; the man is only there for a week, he’s there with his daughter and chances are he’s straight. Besides Spencer has other things to focus on, namely the offer of a new teaching and research post at the Veterinary School of South Australia in Adelaide. He’s been feeling that he’s in something of a rut lately, and thinks a new job with new people in a new country might be just what he needs to shake things up a bit.

Spencer is getting ready to head out for a busy afternoon at Lane Station when he’s asked if he can see a walk-in, some out-of-towner with a stray dog he found at the supermarket. His exasperation melts when he sees the expression of adoration on the dog’s face as it looks at the man cradling it and cooing to it affectionately – and almost trips over his feet when he realises the man is Terry O’Connor, whose very, very blue eyes Spencer has spent a good part of the last twenty-four hours obsessing over. After looking over the pup and learning how Terry found him, their conversation shifts and the two men find themselves sharing things they rarely talk about with others. Terry reveals some of his struggles as a single parent to a child with a chronic illness, and Spencer talks about his childhood and his brothers – and as they talk, it becomes apparent that perhaps they have more in common than first acquaintance would suggest.

The Geography of Happiness is a moving and insightful story about two very lonely men coming to the realisation that maybe they don’t have to go it alone any more. They fight it tooth and nail, though, neither of them quite ready to believe that a romantic relationship between them could ever work for so many, many reasons. Terry became a father at sixteen and a single parent at twenty when Hannah’s mother left, unable to cope with a child with a disability. For the entirety of Hannah’s young life, she’s been Terry’s focus, and between caring for her and running his small business in Painted Bay, he has no room for anything else in his life. And to be honest, he hasn’t really missed it. He’s known for quite some time that, for him, attraction doesn’t work in the same way as it does for other people; he needs an emotional connection with someone and that takes time. Or it should. Yet with Spencer, it’s as though something has just clicked into place, even though they’ve only known each other a few days.

At forty-two, Spencer figures he has his life all worked out, that he’s happy being free and single, and that the move to Adelaide is exactly what he needs right now. But meeting Terry throws a big spanner in the works because Spencer is falling hard in a way he’s never wanted or expected to, and he’s forced to ask himself some questions he’s never wanted to ask himself before. Is he planning to leave because he genuinely wants a new challenge – or is he running away because he’s too scared to stay and try to make a relationship work with Terry?

The obvious love and camaraderie that exists between the Miller Station crew is one of the highlights of these books, and that’s much in evidence here. We check in with the other couples from the series briefly, and there are cameo appearances from the Painted Bay guys, too – most notably Judah, who, as Terry’s best friend, gets to give the shovel talk in his own, inimitable fashion. I liked meeting Spencer’s brother, Derek, who gets to deliver some long-needed home truths about their childhood that help Spencer put some things into perspective and start to heal the rift that’s developed between all of them over the years. Hannah is superbly characterised; she’s a believable fourteen, with all the curiosity and impatience that comes with it, and I loved her determination and belief that she can achieve whatever she sets her mind to. The author presents a realistic portrait of the challenges of parenting – especially being a parent to a child with a chronic illness – and showing how very hard it is for Terry to let go, to let Hannah use the independence he’s worked so hard to give her. We’d all like to wrap our children up in cotton wool, I suppose, and Terry has more reason to want that than most… so part of his journey is learning that he’s a man as well as Hannah’s dad, and that he’s allowed to have a life of his own.

The Geography of Happiness is a wonderful finale to what has been an exceptionally good series from one of the best authors of contemporary romance around. I’m sad to leave the magnificent Mackenzie Basin with its amazing landscapes and jaw-dropping scenery (and hot shepherds, pilots and dog trainers!) but I’ll be back for whatever Jay Hogan comes up with next.