Colton Gentry's third act A novel

Reeling after his best friend's death due to a mass shooting at a music festival, B-list country star Colton Gentry drunkenly rants about gun control during his opening set on a well-publicized tour and finds his life completely upended. Dropped by his record label, banished from country radio, and facing a divorce from his pop-star wife, Colton serves a stint in rehab and winds up back in Kentucky, sleeping in his old bedroom as he figures out what to do next. Feeling lost and alone, Colton struggles to cope but discovers a spark of hope when he encounters his high-school girlfriend Luann at her buzzy new farm-to-table restaurant. Entwined through the current-day story are flashbacks to Colton's senior year of high school, his relationship with Luann, and the beginning of his music career in Nashville. Zentner's moving first adult novel explores many of the same emotional themes as his well-regarded YA novels (like In the Wild Light, 2021) do--dealing with loss, finding your place in the world, and the formative relationships of our youth. Brimming with southern charm and deftly balancing humor with poignancy, Zentner's story of second (and third) chances is sure to win over readers who love a redemption story.

In this swoon-worthy romance, the adult debut from YA author Zentner (In the Wild Light), a country singer-songwriter's life falls apart in the wake of a mass shooting. It's 2015 and B-list performer Colton Gentry, 38, is finally on the rise with a popular song about his high school girlfriend, Luann, which he wrote while his marriage to superstar Maisy Martin began to flounder. After his best friend is killed during a mass shooting, Colton speaks out against rampant gun ownership, and angry gun-toting country music fans make him a pariah. Drunk during a show, Colton responds to a group of hecklers who call him a "libtard" with one career-ending sentence: "fuck you and your guns." Maisy, who's already having an affair with a hockey player, divorces Colton, and he returns from Nashville to his hometown in Kentucky, remembering all the previous ways he messed up his life from drinking, starting with Luann. The two reconnect, and Colton accepts her offer to work at her farm-to-table restaurant as her sous-chef. Zentner gets the reader rooting for Colton to find his second chance with Luann by developing their tender teen love story through flashbacks--in one, set during Christmas 1996, Luann gives Colton a leather guitar strap and he gives her a bonsai tree, "like Mr. Miyagi had in Karate Kid." Fans of wholesome Americana will lap this up. Agent: Charlie Olsen, InkWell Management. (Apr.)

A down-on-his-luck musician returns to his hometown after the death of his best friend. Colton Gentry should be riding high. His latest single is lighting up country radio, he's opening for superstar Brant Lucas, and he's married to one of the biggest singers in the business, Maisy Martin. But his best friend, Duane Arnett, has just been killed in a mass shooting at a country music festival in Tampa, and Colton is struggling through a fog of grief, unsuccessfully drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and dealing with the fallout of an interview he gave calling for gun control. Drunk on stage one night, Colton angrily responds to gun rights hecklers in front of thousands of conservative country fans. He's dropped from the tour and his record label, and his marriage to Maisy implodes. Now back in his hometown of Venice, Kentucky, Colton resigns himself to life as a has-been. But when he runs into his high school sweetheart, Luann Lawler, a chef working in town, she offers him a job and another chance at life--and love. Shifting among Colton's three acts--the high school football phenom of rural Kentucky, the honey-voiced country singer in Nashville, and the preternaturally gifted farm-to-table sous chef--sometimes feels like too many disparate strings are being played, especially when subplots about grief, divorce, second-chance romance, substance abuse, and celebrity all get stage time. Readers expecting the novel to focus heavily on Colton crusading for gun control may be disappointed, as the catalyst for his return to Kentucky falls mostly to the wayside once he gets there. But with a deft hand and lush, descriptive writing, the author manages to weave it all together into a yarn worthy of a classic country record. An emotional meditation on coming home to yourself. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.