With a vividly captivating cover and poignantly written descriptions, The Spring in Trulee Holler by Jana Hutcheson is a fresh yet essential reflection of life in a small town. When Silas arrives in town, Jess and her heartstrings are sent in a whirlwind of emotions. Jess has been through her own share of loss and challenges and somehow finding Silas provides cause to wonder whether he will ever be able to live up to her expectations, needs, and aspirations. Perhaps what truly makes The Spring in Trulee Holler such a charming novel is Jana Hutcheson's ability to capture the reader in riveting dialogue and expertly crafted descriptions of this charming rural Alabama town.

Readers should be prepared to meet a myriad of dynamic characters, including local business owners, townspeople, and even a phenomenal upcoming country music star who may or may not capture a local love interest of her own when she visits. Hutcheson writes such a backstory that readers will find themselves flooded with nostalgia and emotions-- although in a very captivating and beautiful fashion.

What a delightful suprise for a debut novel! I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book but the author weaves a wonderful tale that keeps the reader captivated until the very end. Looking forward to future books.

The Spring in Trulee Holler is a good clean Christian fiction book that entails a bit of romance and fantasy, that provide helpful life lessons. The use of scripture and sharing of their Christian faith was so encouraging to read and also was solid truth. This is a story about overcoming fear, anxiety, doubt, and healing. I would recommend this book to teenagers and up.

I enjoyed the family, small town community, and how the story dealt with cancer, loss, and immortality. The story takes place in the south in small town around Alabama and Tennessee, so I also enjoyed the southern charm of the book. The characters in the book worked through some difficult situations, but I love how you see them giving grace and the return to church for the one’s that had walked away.

I made many highlights through the book that were encouraging and great reminders of God’s truth, to which I look forward to go back and reread. It was a turn pager, kept me up late a couple nights! This book releases in April, so be sure to add this to your book lists!

I loved this book although I usualy don't enjoy heavy emphasis on God. In this case, the emphasis was not misplaced and it just helped create a beautiful story.

This was a good debut book and I look forward to more from this author .
I highly recommend picking up this book if you get a chance . It was heart warming and I couldn’t stop reading it to find out what happens next.
Thank you NetGalley and publishers for my copy

The Spring in Trulee Holler by Jana Hutchinson was one of the best books that I have read so far this year. The voice of the story whisks you away and hard questions are met with faith and compassion. When a boy who can’t die meets and falls in love with a girl who is afraid of dying will they learn to put their lives in God’s hands and find true love? I give this noon 5 stars and highly recommend it! I received a complimentary review copy of this book and am writing this review voluntarily.

Facing the uncertainty of her cancer remission, Jessica struggles to move on in her life. Between the unexpected diagnosis of lymphoma at a young age and the death of her beloved grandmother, she postpones her enrollment into a top design school in order nurture to her mental and physical health. The old Jessica was a risk taker, someone who lived life to the fullest. Since her illness she has been living a life of worry and fear. She decides to channel her inner daredevil and jump off of Goat Man’s bluff. But a chance encounter changes everything.

Silas, a mysterious and handsome stranger, didn’t expect company during his dip in Hawnee Falls. Nor did he expect that this girl who claims to be brave to have a full on panic attack before she even jumps. And he certainly doesn’t expect a kiss as a thank you.

This meeting is just the beginning of Jessica’s and Silas’s story. Two strangers, both searching for answers: one afraid of dying and one tired of living. When Jessica witnesses the shocking truth of Silas’s secret, she has more questions than answers.

The Spring of Trulee Holler is a wonderful story of friendship, love, faith, and acceptance of God’s plan. The author did a great job of portraying Silas’s dilemma and his desire to undo what had been done. Of what is right and wrong, the aftermath of the world potentially learning of his secret, and Jessica’s insistence of using the power of his secret for herself.

This was a terrific debut. So many sweet moments between not only Jessica and Silas, but her father and brother. The romance was organic and natural, tender and genuine. The Christian content was solid, yet not overbearing. I highly recommend to readers who love clean romance and speculative, faith based, uplifting stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Jana for the advanced reader’s copy. All opinions are my own.

Now I understand why readers love this book. I read it in under a day and I love it too! An amazing debut novel, with reminders of the Natalie Babbit classic, Tuck Everlasting, we follow Jessica Lockhart navigating her grief of her grandma's passing and her own cancer diagnosis. Enter Silas Haney, a mysterious, handsome young man who rents an apartment space from Jessica's father. As Jessica gets closer to Silas, she discovers his secret: he does not age and his body heals itself from all manner of injury. How is this possible? Back and forth the two spar over the morality of immortality in a world where everyone around us is aging and, eventually, dying. It's a beautiful story with messages of faith and trust in God, plus an ending that makes the journey worth it. It's beautiful, with the makings of a modern-day classic.

Jessica (Jess) Lockhart is terrified to die. After losing her mother, grandmother, and surviving cancer, she feels as though her life has been put on an indefinite hold. The fear of her cancer returning haunts her every decision. Everything changes when she meets Silas Haney. He is a mysterious (and very attractive) young man who just so happens to be renting the apartment above her family's barn and claims he is in search of a rare plant. When an accident proves Silas to be immortal- after drinking from a hidden spring that Jess has only ever heard about as small town folklore- Jess decides to take her fate into her own hands and find the spring of immortality herself. After blackmailing Silas into taking her along on his expedition, her feelings for him shift from envy to admiration to more as she realizes her biggest fear isn't cancer- it's uncertainty. Will she white knuckle her way through life or will she learn to truly surrender to the One who holds her future in His hands?

I absolutely adored Jess and Silas as main characters- they were each such three-dimensional characters full of joy and grief, life and love, and desperation for something they had no control over. The chemistry between them was off the charts and so swoon-worthy. Facing hard diagnoses in my own life, I fully connected to Jess's fear of the uncertain, her need to constantly make sure everything was "okay", and her longing for a future she may never have. It was real and raw, but also so beautiful.

The plot moved quickly and read so smoothly, I felt as though I was watching a romantic suspense movie in my head. The setting and side characters brought the town of Trulee to life in a beautifully rich way. There is nothing I love more than a good small-town story!

I normally do not enjoy books with fantasy or magical elements, but this was done so well. It felt like every small southern town that has its own unique folklore and legends- these just so happen to be true! I did not feel uncomfortable with the element of immortality as it was framed so seamlessly in the context of faith in God. It is the type of book that makes you ponder these larger questions- what would I do if I was immortal? would I even want to live forever? what moral quandaries come with access to immortality?

Content or trigger warnings would include; mentions of grief and losing a loved one, cancer diagnosis, treatments, and the aftermath, immortality and questions of faith, depictions of fatal injuries sustained during an accident. While none of these are particularly in depth or graphic, it is worth assessing yours or your children's headspace/life experiences before reading.

The only thing that kept this from being a five star read for me was a handful of mentions of being distracted by the physique of a man when he was shirtless or wearing tight-fitted clothing. This was written from Jess's POV and, while I understand this is a romance, those moments took me out of the story. Overall, it did not ruin the story for me and an older teen/young twenty-something would likely be just fine depending on their maturity level. This was, by all measures, a clean romance with only kisses which conveyed the emotion but were not overly done.

In The Spring in Trulee Holler, Hutcheson seamlessly weaves together swoony romance, small-town living, and the art of surrendering the things we hold onto so tightly. The faith themes were beautifully done and will surely impact the reader's view of God's benevolence and sovereignty over the lives of His children.

Jess is terrified of dying, her mother and grandmother have both passed away and she is scared that her cancer will come out of remission at any time.

Silas would love for nothing more than the ability to be mortal again. He is a 90 year old mind trapped indefinitely in the body of a 20 year old after drinking from the spring of immortality.

During a chance encounter they decided to team up to find the spring together, both for different reasons.

I really enjoyed this book! The plot was very interesting and although the story was hard to read at times, I thought the author did a great job handling the topics.

Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you were given the chance to drink from a spring that gave you the promise of never aging would you do it? Jess, a cancer survivor, has that chance. She would never have to worry about her cancer returning. She would live forever. Her friend Silas has drank from that spring and he is miserable. He has outlived all his family members and he misses them. Silas has returned to Jess' small Alabama hometown in search of the vine with the berries that reverse his immortality. This is a Christian fiction novel that mixes in a little fantasy and a little romance. This is a story about faith and fear and trusting God for your future. I love the southern hospitality and the setting of my home state. This is a good quick read. It held my interest all the way through. This is a very good debut from this new author. I look forward to reading her upcoming books too. Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The Spring in Trulee Holler by Jana Hutcheson is a Christian fiction story that borders on the fantasy genre. Silas has returned to Trulee Holler to find a certain plant. He rents a barn loft from Jess’s father while he searches. Silas grew up in the area many years earlier and drank water from a spring that stopped his aging. He feels the plant will reverse this. Meanwhile Jess lives with daily fear that her cancer will return. Jess finds out the truth of Silas and forces him to show her the spring.

While I don’t read fantasy, I found this story to be very good. I grabbed my attention at the very beginning and held it to the very end. I like how realistic the story is with Jess and her daily struggle with fear for her health. The story is so well written I found it very easy to read and imagine it.

I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this book; this is my honest review.

As a cancer survivor in her teens, Jess sees life and the future differently and understandably worries about cancer coming back. She grieves the carefree Jess she once was and dearly misses her grandmother and mother who have already died. Her fashion design career has died in a way, too, though the passion firmly remains. She is at a crossroads and lacks concrete direction. She meets Silas, a botany student in search of a specific plant in her area. The two become friends immediately and confide in each other. Silas is really looking for the spring he drank from decades earlier which promised immortality...but he has decided he wants it reversed. Jess is eager to know more as she would love to stave off cancer. Dilemmas, friendship, choices, trust, and faith are themes in this sweet and thought-provoking novel. Snippets of romance are sprinkled throughout.

This refreshingly wholesome Christian novel includes Bible verses as well as an exploration of faith in an upfront yet subtle way. The story reads like a Classic, timeless, meaningful, nostalgic, and descriptive. Fantasy elements are compelling and not over the top which appealed to me as someone who avoids Fantasy. I like that the characters' growth was evident as the story advanced. They learned about themselves, each other, and God. Do read the beautiful and inspiring author notes as well.

My sincere thank you to Köehler Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this phenomenal book.

I am so happy the day I came across the name Jana Hutcheson on another author's social media page. I saw she was an author an immediately clicked on her name. I came across "The Spring in Trulee Holler" and my interest was piqued. When I went to NetGalley and saw it there, I knew it was meant for me to read. And I am glad I did. This book is one of my top favorite books of this year so far!
The characters are well written, as well as the storyline and scenery. The way she described the town, I wanted to be there along with Silas and Jess. So much emotion goes along with this book - you get swept up in the story and care for the characters.