I loved this book! Loved the story, loved the characters, and loved the ending. Set on Magnolia, SC on a tobacco farm in the 1980s. Austin must take over care of her younger siblings after their mother dies in childbirth and their father checks out because of mental health issues. Other likable characters in town are introduced that makes the story even richer. The love interest and story was so sweet, i got a crush on Vance! I appreciate the ending which summed up what happened to the characters plus there was a good lesson about mental health problems. I hated to finish the book, i will miss Austin and her siblings. Looking for more great books from this author. Bravo!

What a beautiful, stellar story that takes the reader thru the grip of depression, the grip of loss and into the overcoming arms of redemption. A must read.

“At eighty feet tall with a spread of forty feet, the southern magnolia tree was known to get out of hand. The ornamental madam could get a wild leaf to lift her full skirt and take a squat in a yard if she wasn’t made to mind. The self-contained tree was a tidy guest though. Discarded limbs and leaves were kept hidden under her fluffy hem until the debris gradually returned to the very soil that gave it life.”

And so begins this southern story of grit and determination of a young woman taking on the weight of responsibilities most people twice her age would’ve fallen under. Austin (Ox) is this families saving grace as she navigates her family’s way through a life of unyielding challenges while keeping an unwavering faith that God will see them through. The beautiful magnolia tree was such a perfect metaphor for her. A beautiful story of what it means to be family and in “loving them during their sunshine and even during their thunderstorms.” 4.5 stars.

I, also, really loved this from Lowe’s acknowledgements... “My heavenly Father, we sure did have some long conversations about this book. I have no doubt that you gave me this story with an important purpose. My prayer through this journey has been that I wouldn’t get in your way. Still praying I don’t.”

T.I. Lowe has written a beautiful and poignant story that has left me undone. I was riveted from page one. At certain points I laughed out loud and at others I washed my face with my tears. This was heart wrenching and hope filled. Oh, how I loved each and every character she created. Austin Foster will forever be my favorite character in a book. If only I could be more like her. She was hard working, reliable, dependable and a loving care taker. She was a daughter, sibling and girlfriend. She protected those in her care. She gave her all in every aspect of her life. Wouldn't life be so much better off with selfless folks like that in the world today? Every person on the planet should read this beautiful, southern, coming of age romance. This will inspire and uplift. The ending will make you grin and hold the book to your chest with a satisfied sigh.
*I was given a copy of this book by Tyndale House Publishers and this is my honest opinion.
Ten stars if I could.

Ok I absolutely LOVED this book. I will be buying this book when it comes out.

Such a heart wrenching yet heart warming story that immediately sucked me in. This story is about family and love but also mental health issues.

Austin- 1 of 6 kids, is forced to grow up too fast when a family tragedy occurs. The love for her family is so strong and uplifting as well as her strength and determination to face all the highs and lows. She will literally do anything to protect them.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. So so so so good!

Thanks @Netgalley for the eARC of Under The Magnolias!

I wasn't sure what to expect with a book that seemed very grounded in faith. Growing up with a Born Again grandmother (my favorite person ever) I have a soft spot for those stories even if my own religious beliefs do not align. Austin was a wonderful character and I adored each of her siblings. This is a book of trial and triumph and about love and hope and the strength of community and family.

I loved this book because it felt so close to home as I am from North Carolina. The nods to Duke's mayonnaise and other regional items was just so fun for me and the story was so beautiful and just so on-the-nose. I would love to read more from T.I. Lowe.

Under The Magnolias is a very well written romance. Ms. Lowe does a fantastic job in accurately depicting Southern culture. I highly recommend this book.

Though this was a hard book to read at times on an emotional leve, I adored it. T.I. Lowe captures the essence of southern fiction and is one of my favorite southern authors. The story of Austin and her siblings as they grew up learning to deal with their father's undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder was heartbreaking at times. Vance's love for Austin was beautiful. The congregation of the family's church honestly reminded me of the church I was raised in and the one I attend now. This is a story of hurting people who have been cast aside by society who form a familial bond stronger than many real families. T.I. Lowe has a way of drawing you into the story until you feel you are living and experiencing the characters' lives. This is one of the best books I have read this year, and I highly recommend it.

When I read the book blurb, I thought I would love this book. I love reading books set in the American South and the premise of loss but friendship and hope as well made me excited to read this book.

Sadly, the writing is just so mediocre. The language is not very literary and it feels like a little basic most of the times. The book is based around a young girl called Austin who loses her mother early and in a her way, her father as well.

As the misfits of Magnolia come around to help her, there's hope and friendship and lessons learnt amid the sorrow.

I couldn't finish this book because I feel like books dealing with loss or anything heavy should reflect in the story and there wasn't much to it in Under the Magnolias.

A phenomenal coming of age story that follows Austin and her 6 siblings, facing life changes, tragedies, and trying to save each other. After losing their mama during childbirth, Austin has no choice but to step up and raise her siblings while her Pa spirals out of control. With so much to handle, she misses out on the “normal” life of a teenager. Pride runs strong in the Foster family, but when you’re surrounded by so many people that love you, sometimes it’s best to find somewhere to lean. And by God, the beautiful things that happen when you begin to accept help.
Every single character on this novel has a way of pulling on your heartstrings. Truly a heartbreaking novel in the most beautiful of ways. A happy ending that every single Foster deserves.

Powerful. Raw. Heartbreaking. Inspiring. I loved reading Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe and journeying with Austin Foster and her family in 1980’s small town Magnolia, South Carolina, USA. I read Under the Magnolias within twenty-four hours because I couldn’t put it down. I’m writing my book recommendation twenty-four hours after I finished reading because I needed time to ponder and digest the story before writing my thoughts.

Austin is almost thirteen when her loving and carefree mother passes away while birthing twin boys. The family tragedy thrusts Austin into an exhausting world of family responsibilities with six siblings, including two sets of twins, plus school work and chores on the farm. Her father inherited the family tobacco farm, and he also pastors a diverse congregation, known as ‘the riff-raff’, at the chapel on his farm. He’s a brilliant man and passionate preacher who’s also struggling with grief and escalating mental health issues.

The story is written in first person from Austin’s point of view, and we experience the highs and lows of family life during her adolescent years from Austin’s witty and candid perspective. Austin is a strong and smart girl who’s loyal to her family and makes enormous sacrifices for those she loves. I admired her strength and determination to overcome problems in extraordinary and difficult circumstances. She maintained her faith despite the hardships and never-ending struggles in her daily life.

The delightful and eccentric cast of family members and misfit characters who attend the Sunday church services, and who each have deep scars from their challenging life experiences, form a close knit community. In their own unique ways they all reveal their love for Jesus and each other via actions that speak way louder than any words.

I highly recommend Under the Magnolias to readers looking for a beautiful and bittersweet coming of age story with strong faith and romantic elements that also tackles hard issues, including mental illness.

This is a hard book to love, but in the end I did really enjoy it!

Set in the 80's on a southern tobacco farm, Austin "aka Ox" is a teenager trying to hold her family together after her mother passes in childbirth, leaving a passel of young'ens. Her dad has a mental illness that isn't diagnosed until the end of the story. He spends the length of the book alternately preaching in his own chapel and spiraling into darkness, leaving Austin in charge of the family and the farm. Austin is trying to keep things going, while in high school and dealing with her first love interest. She's forced to grow up way fast and she's a very strong character.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for a temporary digital ARC in return for my review.

This was a lovely novel. Austin's fierceness and determination to take care of her family is beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking. I didn't realize how heavy this book would be on religion, but it fit with the the theme (Southern, tobacco farming, etc.) and added to the story.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So, this story is definitely interesting from page one. It's not hard to get into it, if you love the genre. It's a quintessential Southern family drama, set in the 1980s, which I realized is not my favorite. I did not completely finish the book, but will happily rate what I experienced so far at 3 stars. The cover art on this novel is beautiful, and is what drew me to it in the first place. I just did not know what to expect.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to read this ARC. Much thanks to the publisher/author!

T.I. Lowe's Under the Magnolias is a powerful novel of small town southeners; both laugh out loud funny and heartbreaking sad. Characters who will stay with you.

T.I. Rowe has written an amazing story of a young girl holding her family together as they watch and try to hide their father’s bizarre behavior. “Ox” (a pet name because of her height) is the oldest girl in a large Southern family. Her father, Dave Foster is the pastor of a small country congregation know as the First Riffraff of Magnolia. The congregation appears to be a group of society’s misfits that gather together every Sunday to listen to a stirring pastor preach. Dave is the father of a large family that includes, two girls, a mentally handicapped son, another sone, who lost a leg in a farm accident, a couple younger sons when his wife gives birth to twins. She dies during the birth, the twins survive. Things are left to 15-year-old Ox as her father spirals into uncontrollable depression. She, along with the rest of the children continue life on the tobacco farm in the Southern town of Magnolia. She drops out of school to care for everybody. Her father’s behavior becomes more disturbing, while they try to hide it from the church and the authorities. Ox is loved by a town boy, whose father is the mayor of the town but, she refuses his attention and help because the sociologically differences between them are just too extreme. This is, of course a recipe for disaster and things eventually come to a head, after the father tries to commit suicide twice. The ending is powerful and believe able portraying how society can help one-another in life-changing ways. This was a difficult book to put down. The characters were so believable and sympathetic that you had to find out if they survived and what happened to them. It would be a great movie!

I had previously read and loved Lulu’s Cafe by this author. It was even one of our book club reads last year!

Under the Magnolias is a quintessentially Southern book. It’s both humorous and tragic. Told through the eyes of Austin, the oldest girl in the Foster family in rural South Carolina, in which we meet the family in all its glorious dysfunction. When Austin is 13, her mother dies giving birth to her second set of twins when the rest of the family is away. Austin assumes the heavy mantle of mother and oftentimes father on their tobacco farm. Her father seemingly cannot cope with the loss of his wife and goes from manic to depressed as Austin tries to hold the family together. There’s a bit of romance for her, in the person of Vance, who loves her despite her best efforts to push him away.

You need to read this one! Once I got into it, I didn’t want to put it aside.

I received this book from the publisher via net galley in exchange for an honest review.

'We had no choice but to stomach whatever life tossed our way next.'

This is such a powerfully told novel, as is every novel I've read by this author. Set in the 1980s, young Austin Foster is just barely a teenager when her mother dies and she must take on raising her six siblings, including a set of newborn twins. Her father has taken his wife's death so hard that he is of little use. So Austin has to step up to the plate, including helping run the family's tobacco farm in NC.

Told in Austin's voice, it spans eight years in this family's life. It's truly Southern fiction at its finest, at times edgy, gritty, heartbreaking, but then it will make your heart smile. These Foster kids have to deal with things that no kid should ever have to face. And Austin does her best to hold this family together while bearing a heartbreak that is so weighty at times it seems it cannot be borne, especially by one so young. And they also have to deal with the community believing they are just 'riffraff'. Oh, but God has a plan. He always does. One thing that struck me in this book was the love young Vance had for Austin and nothing could change it. Nothing he endured, or Austin endured, or the hard things that happened, his love prevailed. It was a beautiful thing to watch unfold.

This one will break your heart, then turn around and make your heart smile. Honestly, it's profound. I highly recommend it. TI Lowe has a way of spinning a tale that will grab your and not let you go. As a fellow southerner, her vernacular is one I am totally familiar with and have used myself. I settled myself in and rarely put it down.

I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Publishers via Net Galley. I received no compensation and the opinion in this review is expressly my own.

"T. I. Lowe’s gritty yet tender and uplifting tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way."

This tagline for Under the Magnolias says it all so perfectly; it's gritty and heartbreaking. True to her southern roots, Lowe spins a tale not easily forgotten. She takes readers on an eight year journey in the lives of the Foster family, its seven children, ranging in age from twelve to newborn, and their unstable father, a farmer and pastor. What the siblings endured throughout their childhood evoked such sadness for me. I admit I'm a sensitive reader, but still was unprepared for the level of bizarre behavior they had to deal with and the family secrets they had to keep. Were it not for the frequent use of humor to deflate tense situations, I might not have held up under the weight of it all.

The strength of Under the Magnolias lies in the well drawn, deeply defined attributes of each of the characters. Austin Foster, the oldest sibling, and Vance Cumberland, the rich mayor's son were remarkable and endearing. Austin being extremely strong and protective, and Vance being patient and caring. Their love story was not an easy one, but with determination they see it through. I also enjoyed the variety of personality traits of each of the other Foster siblings, so well described and lived out. The "riffraff" church people were a wonderful assortment of real life characters too. I loved Foxy and Jinx as a terrific support system for the family.

There were some great quotes in Under the Magnolias. Some of my favorites:
*"Fighting hate with hate only produces more hate."
*"Mama once told me loving your family means you love them during the sunshine and even during their thunderstorms."
*It never ceases to amaze me how easily we as a society have perfected the art of hiding our internal storms behind shiny facades."

Under the Magnolias covers such an immense number of topics; readers will surely feel the emotion push and pull throughout. The story has a wonderful HEA, a Healing Ever After. I could have read a few more chapters of that transformative ending! I appreciate Tyndale House Publishers making a copy available for review. all thoughts and opinions are my very own.