Addiction is one of the most common realities families quietly carry. Dave Quak sits down with best selling author T.I. Lowe (Tonya) for an honest conversation about what happens when someone you love will not get clean, and how faith can stay real when life is anything but.

We dig into her novel South Of Somewhere and the choice to write addiction recovery with grit and grace: relapse pressure, toxic friendships, support meetings, and the exhausting mental math of “Am I helping or enabling?”

Tonya shares how personal grief shaped the story, why research matters when you’re writing about drug addiction, and how fiction can open a door to healing in a way arguments never will. If you care about Christian fiction, faith and mental health, recovery stories, and family dynamics around substance abuse, this chat is packed with insight you can actually use.

We also talk about breaking stereotypes by setting the book in wealthy Sullivan’s Island, the underrated power of AA style community, and why “professional” is often the enemy of connection. The conversation turns to calling and ambition too: choosing ministry over metrics, trusting God with impact, and letting stories land in the right hands at the right time. Stick around for a sneak peek of Tonya’s next book, A Southern Goodbye, and a closing prayer for courage and faithfulness.

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Here are the main ways to buy T.I. Lowe's books:

Buy directly / browse all titles:

• Her official website — tilowe.com/books
• Tyndale Fiction (her publisher) — includes hardcover and softcover editions

Major retailers:

• Amazon — her full author page
• Barnes & Noble — search "T.I. Lowe"

Deals & discovery:

• BookBub — follow her for sale alerts on ebooks

Libraries:

• Check your local library's app (Libby/OverDrive) — her titles are commonly available as ebooks and audiobooks through library membership, which is free.

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Sunburnt Souls is produced by Pretty Podcasts — a Christian mental health production where faith meets real life through stories ...