This book ticks all the boxes, but then Jay Hogan's books usually do. I love the single dad theme and I identified so much with the teenage girl, because I felt her helplessness in the face of Terry's fear and overprotectiveness. I often felt frustrated for her. Terry sat a little in my allergy. But Gary Furlong brought the story so brilliantly to life! I enjoyed every minute of his narration; he never was "too much" or "too little" but always spot on. Especially with the teenage reactions of Hanna. Brilliant!

Oh my, this was gorgeous. Jay Hogan rarely lets me down and I'm pleased to say the relationship with Gary Furlong as narrator of her Mackenzie Country stories is still a winning partnership.
This is Spencer's story. Bisexual, commitment phone, country vet falls for bi-curious visiting single Dad, Terry. Their relationship develops over the space of four days, a ridiculously short time, but the connection between them, as Hogan writes it, is perfection. I believed in them as a couple and shed occasional tears as Terry made the hard decisions and Spencer pushed for more.
Hannah, Terry's daughter, has JIA and I can understand how her and her condition are the focus of Terry's world, and just how much he doesn’t allow himself anything that could interfere with that.
And after three books with Spencer popping up we funal find out more about the charismatic vet and why he's determined not to be pined down.
I loved this book and I adore this series. I hope it's not the last time we visit the Mackenzie.

Love Jay Hogan's world of connected characters. Love these books.

Jay really hit it out of the ballpark when she wrote this. Taking Hannah to Mackenzie Bay, Terry comes to realise all he's missed out on (although he has no regrets, his life has always revolved around Hannah), and how lonely he actually is. Along comes Spencer, and he sees right through Terry. Spencer had his own problems, but together they both undergo a transformative journey and fall in love. It's beautiful to read how it develops, slowly (for reasons), and how they actually 'see' one another. One of the highlights of the story are definitely the supporting characters. Zach is his usual opinionated bossy self, I love how he loves putting people straight. Judah also plays a big part, he hasn't changed in the least, he's such a diva, but loyal and supportive to those he loves. The guys from Mackenzie and Painted Bay come together and it's glorious, Jay stays true to their characters, and I was reminded how much I love them all. Have just listened to the audible, and once again Gary Furlong totally kills it! He captures the characters voices beautifully, and the emotions of each one, especially Terry, were represented so well. He really made the story come alive. Loved it so much, will certainly listen to it again.

Such an emotional read, there's so many feels, from tenderness to heartbreak, to love 💕 Awesome book 😊

Full disclosure, Jay Hogan is "must read" for me, and The Geography of Happiness hits all the marks. Love Jay's Painted Bay series? Terry lives in Painted Bay, so we get to revisit some of our friends there. Been waiting to see if the area vet, Spencer, would get his own book? Win. Can't get enough of all the folx in the Mackenzie? All the other couples make an appearance. Add to all that Gary Furlong's fabulous narration, and I only wish I could give Terry and Specer more than 5 stars! I'll be rereading and relistening to all the books because they hit me in the feels, push me to think about my own life, and offer hope and joy in challenging times.

I loved the story and the narration, Gary Furlong did a great job! I highly recommend this audiobook. I loved Spencer, also Terry even if he exasperated me a little sometimes, and the world Jay created. With this audiobook I traveled to New Zealand, a country on my bucket list that I haven't visited.

Jay Hogan's books have been on my radar for a while, but I hadn't read any yet, so when I got the chance to an ALC, I jump in and was lucky to get one and do not regret it. This story it's the fourth of the MacKenzie series, but features Terry a secondary character from the Painted bay series, and we have some cameos from both series. I hadn't listened to or read the previous books, and while the story is a standalone, I think I could have enjoyed it even more f I had and I certainly will!

Just a last note, I'm not an English native speaker and did not have any problems understanding the audiobook, I even learnt a couple of new words ;-)
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Cat gives this Audiobook 5 meows for the story, 5 plus meows for the performance
so, 5 meows overall

I read the book and loved it. The characters are charming and relatable. What's not to love about an overprotective single dad with a headstrong physically challenged teenage daughter, toss in a smart work dog and you have perfection...oh I forgot the sexy veterinarian.
The storyline is amazing too.

Now I have to say the audiobook was amazing. The narration nailed each character as he (the narrator) adds in sighs, emotions and even sobs. Holy cow! It was like being there, so if at all possible, I recommend the audio if you can get it.

Update for Audible - which was as Always fabulously narrated by Gary Furlong. He is All of these men! He brings out their quirky personalities, accents and all the comradery feels when they are bantering with family and friends. What a touching story about family and romance. We have Terry who pretty much hides his own needs and true desires behind his responsibilities to his daughter Hannah and his job. Then we have Spencer who avoids his feelings and issues by flirting and sometimes running away from them. I loved that we knew both of these men from the two different series and having the training of Hannah's dog with Zach was the perfect way to blend them together into a romance. Terry could be stubborn and sassy but always sweet and loyal to a fault. Yep, I adored him! I liked getting deeper into who Spencer was besides being the hot veterinarian! All the other guys are around causing fun and banter as these two open up to each other. A beautiful and subtle building to love, trust and a family with dogs too!

There’s something about Jay Hogan’s writing that I just love. The lush descriptions of the stark landscape that is Mackenzie County, New Zealand. I also love the characters she creates. From the first time I met Spencer, the veterinarian, I hoped he’d get a story. An entire book dedicated to the handsome flirt. So I was thrilled when this fourth book in the series came along.

Of course Spencer had to fall pretty hard to combat his flirtatious reputation. Enter Terry, his daughter Hannah, and Hannah’s service dog, Gabby. From the first, I was taken with this family. Illness is rough, but it’s even harder to watch a child go through it. Hanna’s JIA has taken much from her, but it’s also made her resilient and, at just fourteen, ready to handle the world.

Terry’s not ready to let go.

Hannah needs to prove her independence and that means training with Zack up at Miller Station. Learning how to handle unknown situations. Gaining confidence both in herself as well as with Gabby. All is not smooth, though, and Terry had to fight the urge to step in and run interference all the time.

Enter Spencer.

Terry’s known he’s bi for a while – having a massive crush on his best friend cemented that. Before he could speak up, though, his bestie met someone else and they fell in love. Terry sort of figured he’d missed his one and only chance – until he meets Spencer.

I loved how each man had such a profound impact on the other. Playboy Spencer considered walking away from his reputation – and even shared really intimate parts of his childhood with Terry. In turn, Terry listened to Spencer’s advice about giving Hannah breathing room.

I wondered how things would work out – the geography of living so damn far apart. But it worked. It just worked.

Of course, I have to mention Gary Furlong’s flawless performance. I truly adore him. He and Jay are brilliant together and make me so damn happy. Can’t wait for more collaborations in the future.

I listened to this book while following in the book at the same time. I just loved the feeling of someone reading to me. I am happy and sad that the final book of Mackenzie Country was finally here. I really enjoyed seeing the characters from Mackenzie Country series and from the Painted Bay series show up together. Spencer and Terry made such a great team, they made me laugh, cry, hope....just loved it 😍

Another beautiful book in the Mackenzie series. Though in this one the impressive scenery is not as predominant as in the previous ones, the serene, freezing landscape is still one of the actors in the story. As Terry is from Painted Bay, we also get to revisit with our favourite couples from there, so this book is actually filled with beloved (if annoying, according to Terry and Spencer) faces.
Terry might be the one resisting the idea more, having it in his mind that his needs don’t matter and that he has to put everyone’s needs (especially his daughter Hannah’s) first and that he does not have time or anything to invest in a relationship, but it’s just because he’s so scared of opening up his heart. Spencer has his own motives to run scared from relationships, but it’s clear quite from the start that what these two men have with each other is not something that can be ignored or dismissed.
Well, this time Jay Hogan put me in a rough spot: I was certainly rooting for Terry and Spencer to end up and settle together, but where? What did I love more and wished they ended up living? Painted Bay or the Mackenzie? In the end, as Terry said, the geography didn’t matter, only that they love each other and are there for each other.

Edited 3/27/25 to add my comments on the audiobook.
Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5

In my original review of the eBook, I said this story didn’t hit me as hard emotionally as some of Jay’s other books. I don’t know where my mind was at that time because listening to Gary Furlong’s performance of the audiobook had my eyes leaking many times. The Geography of Happiness is a wonderfully emotional story and I loved it all over again when I listened to it.

Original review:
★彡 5 STARS 彡★

I haven’t read a Jay Hogan book yet that I haven’t loved and The Geography of Happiness is no exception. I’ve said it more than once: Jay’s descriptive writing allowed me to visualize the setting for the Mackenzie Country series and has made me want to visit there.

While this book didn’t hit my emotions as hard as the previous books in this series, Jay still managed to make my eyes leak more than once (a sure sign that I loved it). I so much enjoyed visiting again with Judah, from Off Balance in her Painted Bay series, as well as a few other characters from that series. Having said that, you absolutely don’t need to have read Off Balance to enjoy this new book. TBH, it’s been 4.5 years since I read Off Balance so I didn’t remember all of the details from that story, and I didn’t need to.

The Geography of Happiness is a book where there’s an instant connection between the two MCs but then has the slowest burn before anything spicy happens between Terry and Spencer. While the story deals with the serious subject of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis which affects Terry’s daughter Hannah, there are also light-hearted moments like this one where Terry, who’s from a warner climate, takes a dip in the lake on the Miller Station:

[I gulped some air and then dived under the water, pumping my arms and legs to jump-start some circulation. And when the blessed numbness finally kicked in, I pushed off the bottom and swam the fastest twenty-five metres in the history of the world before beating a hasty retreat back to the shore, cursing and stumbling over the uneven stones with my blue balls lodged somewhere around my armpits; my skin a charming shade of what-the-fuck-are-you-doing corpse white; and a jump-the-queue fast ticket to hypothermia.]

If you enjoy slow-burn romance that includes wonderful characters and very cutes dogs I can heartily recommend The Geography of Happiness.

An advanced copy of this book was provided to me at my request; my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️
Performance: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️
Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️
The Science of Attraction is the third book in the Mackenzie Country series. You can read this book as a standalone, but I read the other two volumes first. I found it more enjoyable because I had already gotten to know and love most of the characters in the previous volumes.
This time it's about Julian, Jules for short, the son who has taken over the station after his father's stroke. Paddy is a father who hasn't made it easy for his first-born son Zach after he came out. Due to Paddy's illness, he needs a private rehab specialist. This is Liam and since they are both at the farm, Jules quickly gets to know Liam. It was entertaining to read how Liam pushed Jules' father Paddy to his limits. Liam is openly gay and he knows how to deal with Jules' father. But he awakens feelings in Jules that he's never had before.
I love it when a character finds their true self and can live it. That's why I liked Jules and Liam's story so much. I really like these two likeable characters and it was great to see how their relationship developed. The author has created interesting secondary characters that I really liked. All in all, a fascinating story about the family dynamics of the Lane family who experience many ups and downs over the course of the series.
The story is entertaining and emotional and it got super exciting towards the end. Another highlight for me is the setting - I love the mountains, the landscape, the farm. The author has described it all in such detail and wonderfully that I quickly found myself in the Australian highlands.
Although I've already read the book, I was really looking forward to the audiobook because Gary Furlong's performance is absolutely fantastic! He gave each character a suitable voice and I was able to distinguish between them very well. He read in a very lively and entertaining way, so it was a pleasure to relive the story of Jules and Liam. I thought the book was already very good, but the audiobook makes the story an experience I wouldn't want to miss.
I can't get enough of this series and am happy to recommend it!

Fox grows in his relationship and economy from a divorce and loss of business to new relationship and new job. Leroy is still a grump, but lets a few more people in.

Kurt and Penn broke my heart and stitched it back together again. ♥️