Books Over Drinks with Jeff Zentner

We look forward to welcoming author Jeff Zentner into the store to spend an evening with us on Tuesday, May 14th starting at 7:30 pm! Grab a cocktail and a seat because you’re not going to want to miss hearing him chat about his newest novel Colton Gentry’s Third Act.

Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.

BOOK SUMMARY

A stirring redemption story of second and even third chances, this novel is a testament that it’s never too late for a career change or an entirely new direction in life. Colton Gentry has finally made it big. He is opening for a country megastar, and he’s married to one of the hottest acts in music. But the recent loss of his best friend from a tragic mass shooting is still weighing on him. Right as he’s about to perform, the combination of grief and alcohol leads to irreversible consequences.

A heart-warming read set in a honeysuckle-scented Southern backdrop, COLTON GENTRY’S THIRD ACT is a love song to the ache of a first love, the joys of discovering that in life there is always another chance, some damn good southern cooking, and an endearing mess of an old dog.

The novel follows the stages of Colton’s life, starting with his senior year of high school when an injury ruins his chances of playing football, to his time coming up with his best friend Duane as hungry musicians in Nashville, and eventually moving into the present when he’s dealing with the aftermath of his public breakdown. After the implosion of his life and marriage and left with few choices or funds, Colton retreats to his rural Kentucky hometown. He’s resigned himself to has-been-dom, until a chance encounter gives him a second shot at life: a job working in the kitchen with Luann, his first love, who has undergone her own reinvention and opened a wildly successful restaurant that is putting his hometown on the map. Luann never forgot the day Colton broke her heart but despite her initial hesitation, she hires him as a sous chef. From catching footballs and strumming guitars, Colton’s latest evolution involves learning how to sharpen knives, julienning carrots, and perfecting his Hot Chicken recipe. And in the close quarters of the kitchen, as the heat starts to simmer between Colton and Luann, they begin to wonder whether their relationship can also have another act.

COLTON GENTRY’S THIRD ACT is a story of coming home, undoing past heartbreaks, and navigating grief, and is a reminder that there are next acts in life, no matter how unlikely they may seem.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JEFF ZENTNER is the author of New York Times Notable Books The Serpent King and In the Wild Light, as well as Goodbye Days and Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, and the International Literacy Association Award, been long-listed twice for the Carnegie Medal, and been a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville.