This was SUCH a feel good read!

I smiled like a stupid fool through this whole book. As a recently sober person myself, this one resonated with me because Colton is dealing with his own sobriety. His ups and downs made me feel seen.

This is a second chance romance, but so much more. This is a book about it never being too late to start over. When Colton’s country music career implodes, he loses more than he bargained for. His career is over and so is his marriage. Tucking tail, he moves in with his mom to get back in his feet.

Running into his high school girlfriend and first love sets his whole world on fire once more. But, she knows how hard it is when he changes his mind, so she is staying guarded. She is a chef and offers him a job in her restaurant. There, Colton finds a new passion, but his past continues to haunt him.

Colton is a man very much in touch with his emotions and I loved it. My own husband is a man comfortable in his masculinity. He is never afraid to show emotion and seeing that reflected in this book was refreshing.

This was a delight to read and I look forward to reading more from this author!!

This book totally lived up to all the rave reviews I've been seeing! If you enjoy second chance love stories, country music, comeback stories, small town stories, high school sweethearts and books about food and family this one is for you!!

Fair warning that alcoholism and a gun shooting play a big part in this book but if that's not a trigger for you, definitely don't miss out on this wonderful book!!! Great on audio and my absolute new favorite by Jeff Zentner!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Libro.fm for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review! Highly recommended for fans of the old school George Strait movie, Dusty!!

This book totally lived up to all the rave reviews I've been seeing! If you enjoy second chance love stories, country music, comeback stories, small town stories, high school sweethearts and books about food and family this one is for you!!

Fair warning that alcoholism and a gun shooting play a big part in this book but if that's not a trigger for you, definitely don't miss out on this wonderful book!!! Great on audio and my absolute new favorite by Jeff Zentner!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Libro.fm for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review! Highly recommended for fans of the old school George Strait movie, Dusty!!

Jeff Zentner absolutely never fails to please with his writing.
This, his first foray outside of YA, is just as wonderful as everything else he has written. His characters are engaging, the story compelling, and the feelings he evokes are many.
I highly recommend this to anyone who likes romance and redemption.

Thank you Grand Central for Colton Gentry's Third Act. This was a surprisingly big win for me. I went in excited for the themes but left with full heart, wet eyes at times, and a smile. Zenter captures nuance and emotion so well, makes second chance themes and return to hometown themes sing (sorry, pun not intended). A few stand outs for me: I love indeed second chance and hometown themes and also love celebrity and restaurant settings, this book has them all, and what was fun for me was reading this from a male voice and perspective as that is less common.

And yet, despite all themes I know and love, this book also feels new, fresh, and engaging; I suppose that is Zentry's writing and his strong storytelling. I can't wait to see how others read and love this book. Highly recommend. Adding to my book club to read list!

Colton Gentry is married to a country/pop queen riding high on success until a mass shooting occurs at a music festival - and his best friend guitarist Duane is one of those killed. Colton starts drinking and while opening for a top country artist, spews his hatred for America's love affair with guns. His stance does not sit well with the crowd, his agents, country music fans, or his wife. He finds himself dumped by his wife, record label, and sponsors. His wife's last gift to him is a stint at a rehab facility. Colton decides to return home to try and put his life back together, and you flash back to his high school career and his first love. Colton decides to take his mom to a new, upscale farm to table restaurant in town, and his life is forever changed. This is a romance, so Colton does get a happy ending, and also, Petey, an older rescue dog.

Wonderful book!

This is my first time reading this author, but I will definitely look for others by him in the future. Set in the mid-2010’s, but with many current news topics, this is a book of second and third chances, the strength it takes to try, and what can be gained when you do.

Basically, Colten gets canceled afte expressing his opinions on gun control after his best friend is killed at a music festival (shades of the Las Vegas shooting here). People are outraged and his contracts are voided. Colten returns to Venice, KY to live with his mom and get his life back together. Visiting a local restaurant, he discovers that his high school sweetheart owns it. I don’t do spoilers so I won’t go any further, but I really enjoyed the book. The addition of two footnotes was genius, love Petey.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Colton Gentry's Third Act is the adult fiction debut of Jeff Zentner.

"Good things are happening for country singer Colton Gentry. He has his first hit in a while - he's opening for megastar Brant Lucas - and he's married to one of the hottest acts in the country. But he's hurting. His best friend was killed in a mass shooting at a music festival. Colton is using alcohol to numb the pain and during one show he tells the crowd what they can do with their guns. The aftermath loses him his wife, his band, his record label and all of his remaining self-respect. He heads back to his small Kentucky home town feeling like a failure. There he runs into his high-school sweetheart who is trying something new. She offers a chance to work with her in her restaurant and Colton must make his most important decision."

Reading a new Zentner book is like spending time with an old friend. His characters are imperfect and speak to the struggles we all have. Colton deals with grief, with addiction and with that little voice in his head that tells him he's not good enough. Just when you think he's taken all the blows he can take, Zentner drops something else on him. But at rock bottom Colton finds redemption and growth. I love this ending.

Put this book at the top of your list for this summer and wrap yourself in the warm embrace of a Jeff Zentner story.

I liked this but didn't love it. Loved the former country star taking a stance against guns, which would def not go over well in that industry (as we see in the book). His reasons are valid and very real. I found the romance to be one I just didn't enjoy. I did like the tackling of addiction and Colton's journey through sobriety.

this book is RIVETING!!! i was deeply in tune with colton from the very start to the very end and couldn't help but think of him when i was just living my life! he's charming and kind and sympathetic and going through something so difficult and unimaginable and i couldn't help but feel for him. and the romance!!!! the absolute yearning and deep love between him and luann. their banter and wit and playfulness with each other was perfect. i LOVED this book and i cannot wait for jeff zentner's next!

Zentner is a great writer and you can see his skill in this novel. I did love Colton but wasn't a fan of Luann. By the end of the novel, I wasn't buying what the author was selling in the way of the romance. The best parts of this book were when Colton interacted with Luann's daughters.

OMG! I loved this book so much! Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes and I couldn’t put this one down! It was so refreshing to read a book completely from the MMC’s POV and Colton is now one of my favorite literary characters! I loved the idea that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself or embark on a new beginning. It was hopeful, emotional, inspiring, and heartfelt. You have to check this one out when it comes out at the end of the month!

This book had me by the throat and I couldn't put it down.

Technically speaking the second half of that sentence is a lie. In 2o23 I picked this up and read the first couple chapters, immediately intrigued but me and reading with my eyes have been having some disagreements. It got shuffled off to the side, but luckily the audio was one of Libro.fms advance copies this month and so I was able to get around to this before the release date.

Boy am I glad that I am.

I was initially drawn to this because Colton Gentry is a country music musician, and while the book isn't about his rise to fame so much as his dusting himself off after his fifteen minutes, it's still a buzzword for me.

This story is told in a couple different timelines, though just knowing you get stuff from Colton's past and his present is almost all you need to know.

In the present Colton Gentry is a man in recovery; both from his alcoholism and from the music career he lost. After Colton's best friend was shot at a music festival and he doubled down on statements advocating for stricter gun regulation Colton finds himself no longer the opening act, no longer married, and back home in the small town he was raised in living in his childhood bedroom.

In the past we see Colton Gentry, football star as he forms a relationship with Luann; a new girl in school and not part of his usual social circle.

It's the way that the past informs Colton's present, and Luann's return that had me believing that maybe second chance romances can be done well

Zentner is able to craft a story that is addictive. The way that Colton's and Luann's relationship is written in the past and the present is some of my favorite scenes I've read all year. The way the past is some of the most romantic storytelling I've ever read and the present reads as some of the most compelling cases for platonic love, with that old flame still simmering just under the surface until it makes sense for things to change.

It really is some of the best character work I've read this year, it quickly rocketed to my favorite read of the year. If I hadn't been at work I would have been kicking my feet and blushing the entire time I read it.

Even the platonic male relationships are a thing of joy in this book. The friendship that Colton had with Duane, the friend that was murdered is explored in some of the past chapters, and the friendship that Colton had in high school also comes back into play and feels on equal footing. Truly just a masterclass as far as I'm concerned.

This is the first book by Jeff Zentner that I've read, and I doubt that it will be my last.

A truly sweet coming-of-middle-age story, 'Colton Gentry's Third Act' opens on the end of country singer Colton's second act: an alcohol-fueled rant against automatic weapons at a country music concert. Subsequently drummed out of the music business and released from both his record and his marriage contracts, Colton completes a rehab program and moves back to his small Kentucky hometown to see about starting over.

Colton deals with the downs and further-downs of new sobriety, confronting triggers, enduring loneliness, grieving past lives and lost dreams, and the uncertainty of what to do next. After a fair amount of teary flailing, he finds his feet working as a sous chef in the only fine dining restaurant in town...which happens to be owned by his high school girlfriend, who he happened to never really get over. The plot is not intricate --complications of Colton's rebirth and renewal are often quickly resolved, a bit "sad sack always lands on his feet"-- but the emotions he goes through are resonant and extremely relatable. Even if sobriety and recovery are not your struggles (as they are not mine), who on the approach to 40 hasn't looked around and thought, Have I accomplished what I set out to do? What if I never can? What new dreams can replace the old? Who will be with me while I figure it out?

This book had me chuckling and wiping away tears and rooting for the ending, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated the reassurance that the dog doesn't die. A heartfelt and engaging read with a sure sense of place and no fear of deep feelings.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC.

The other two books I’ve read by Jeff Zentner were both five star reads so I went into this with some expectations. I also really liked the premise - a country singer who was dropped by his label after speaking out about needing gun control moves back to his hometown to figure out what’s next.

I found this a compelling read and the audiobook narration kept me interested to see what was going to happen. Unfortunately, this lost me a bit in the execution - the pacing felt off and the ending was unsatisfying to me. I wanted more which may have been a problem of my own expectations.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley and librofm for the free book/audiobook to review.

Loved this big-hearted novel about second (and third!) chances, not just at love but at careers, making it, and finding family--and oneself. Great depiction of alcohol recovery in the MC.

Having read one of this author's YA books, I was excited to see what he would do with an adult romance. This was so heartfelt, with characters to root for, and I was often crying at the sheer tenderness of it. This author has a way of depicting people who come from rural backgrounds in a way that feels so true for me. It's a slow burn but oh so worth it.

This didn’t quite speak to me the way I was hoping but I’m so glad I read it and see the appeal for sure. Lots here to like and I would definitely read more by the author in the future.

Jeff Zentner has a way with words that infuses even the most mundane situations with poetry. This book will tug on your heartstrings without ever encroaching onto "preachy" territory; it so beautifully tackles grief, second chances, love, friendship, and the power of music.

Cannot recommend enough.

Reflections, Regrets, and Redemption. This book is filled to the brim and spilling over with them. Oh. My. Heart. What did I just read?!!😭❤️

Colton Gentry is a man who is in pain, so much pain he tries to drink it away. Not only that, he has a public meltdown in a very public forum- on stage. He says things that don’t sit well with the crowd. The incident garners world wide attention. It’s splashed all over the media and out goes the career, the wife, the superstar life.

This book isn’t just about a country artist losing it all and finding his way back. It’s the struggle of Colton failing and succeeding multiple times only to be at rock bottom, clawing his way back to a life he can be proud of. It’s about the true brokenness a man feels inside from intense grief and lost love. It’s ultimately about Colton finding his way through and charting a better course. The course that’s meant to be and one that brings true healing and true happiness.

This book is completely captivating yet also gut wrenching. There are times I literally couldn’t read the words because I couldn’t see them. Tears were just falling. Colton’s monologue to his rescued dog Petey…😭😭 Oh that will get you right square in the chest. Thats just one instance. Told in viewpoints from the late 90s to 2016 this book reads like the most addictive miniseries. It makes you feel every emotion and it is just the most beautiful story that cannot be passed by. If I could give it six stars I would! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.