My love affair with Jeff Zentner began a couple years ago when I read The Serpent King. I read a couple more of his YA books in quick succession: Goodbye Days and In the Wild Light. All three of these were five star books for me and made Jeff Zentner an auto buy author.

Colton Gentry’s Third Act is Zenter’s first foray into adult fiction and it’s also a winner. This is the story of up-and-coming country music star Colton Gentry who at 38 finds himself in a peck of trouble when he gets drunk and speaks his mind about assault rifles at a music festival. Almost immediately, he’s cut from the tour he and his band were on, fired from his record label, and separated from his wife, superstar pop sensation Maisie Martin.

Colton knows that his life is a mess and that he has to get a handle on things. One of those things is his drinking. First there’s rehab.

The news cycle moves on while he’s cloistered away in the monastic rehab program. He has no internet. No cell phone. Little contact of any sort with the outside world. Lots of time to walk in the desert and let the scorching sun burn him clean. Time to perform a self-inventory and work on his recovery. Time to consider the new life he’s going to lead when he gets out.

What’s that new life supposed to look like? He doesn’t have an education; he doesn’t have any friends (most of his friendships had been “seeded with mostly with professional colleagues — who were no longer his professional colleagues.” ) And he’s broke. He has no choice but to retreat to his hometown of Venice, Kentucky. He moves in with his widowed mom and spends his time avoiding reality by watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy with her.

Zentner’s novel allows us to see teenaged Colton, so we see him before he thought music was a viable career choice. He was going to be going to college on a football scholarship. He had good friends and a high school girlfriend, Luann, who meant everything to him. What happened to those relationships? Coming back to Venice means that he is definitely going to encounter some old ghosts.

Colton Gentry is a character readers can root for even though, as an adult, he makes some lamebrained decisions. Zentner himself was a working musician before he began writing fiction, so that aspect of this novel feels authentic. There’s also a lot of mouth watering descriptions of food in this book so maybe he is a competent chef, too? (Geesh, is there anything this guy can’t do?)

While Colton Gentry’s Third Act is not a straight up romance (there’s so much more to it than that), it’s still swoon-worthy. As Colton finds his footing, learns to trust himself, and embarks on his third act, readers are treated to some fabulous banter and some romantic gestures that defy cynicism.

What can I say? I love this author and I will read whatever he writes.