I enjoyed Jackson and had slightly mixed feelings about Tucker, but Boone, the third book in the MacBrides of Texas trilogy, gave me a much-needed break from political and pandemic-related anxieties. That’s due in part to its setting: most of the novel is set in Eternity Springs rather than Enchanted Canyon and Redemption, Texas. I am personally more drawn to Colorado’s mountains than I am to Texas, and I have a soft spot for the fictional Eternity Springs. But mostly, the pleasure I had in reading it is due to the two main characters, Boone MacBride and Hannah Dupree, and their journeys toward healing, both individually and together.
Boone is a standup guy: caring, insightful, intelligent, and kind, with a good sense of humor and movie-star good looks. But he’s also carrying a lot of pain from events in his past—pain he is almost ready to move past. Hannah has many of the same qualities, but she is still much more locked in her grief, to the point where it has almost overwhelmed her. Boone decides to “be a light” for Hannah the way his friends and family have been for him, and their relationship builds slowly from there.
There’s not much conflict between Boone and Hannah, which I find refreshing. Not every relationship has to be filled with drama and angst! Both of them have more than enough drama and angst in their pasts, anyway; anything more would be overkill. March does a lovely job of conveying the process of moving through the later stages of grief into a place where her characters are finally ready to embrace light and life and love again. And watching Boone fall head over heels for a tiny baby was the icing on the cake. (No, I’m not going to tell you who, or how, or why. You’ll just have to read the book.)
My only real complaint is the lack of diversity in the book. This won't come as a surprise to anyone who has read March's books before. As much as I have enjoyed the Eternity Springs books over the years, and as good as March is at telling a compelling romantic story, the entire series is dismayingly homogenous when it comes to its characters. Practically every character in Boone is white, heterosexual, and ablebodied. I don't think there was a single person of color or LGBTQIA character, even in a minor role. It's just not realistic, and I hope to see more diversity in March's books in the future.
Other than that disappointment, however, the characters and storyline of Boone were a welcome antidote to my pre-election anxiety and pandemic blues. You don’t have to have read the Eternity Springs series to enjoy the MacBrides of Texas trilogy, but it doesn’t hurt, since recurring character Celeste plays a small but significant role in all three MacBrides books, and several other Eternity Springs regulars make at least cameo appearances here and there.