“Go and find what it is that inspires you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts.”

Chip and Joanna Gaines are household names at this point in their career. Their HGTV show Fixer Upper became very popular and The Magnolia Market became a tourist attraction. Yet, through it all, the reason they were so loved is that they were authentic and showed on TV who they are in real life. The Magnolia Story tells of how they met, their early years of marriage and the early stages of the TV show and market by the silos. Capital Gaines is Chip’s story of lessons learned through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

I saw that Capital Gaines was coming out and put it on my to-read list. I looked to see if Chip or Joanna had written any other books and then added The Magnolia Story to my list as well. Both took about 2 months to get through my library’s Overdrive account, but they both became available at the same time, so I read The Magnolia Story and then Capital Gaines right afterwards.

I really enjoyed reading the Gaines’ stories. I haven only seen a few episodes of Fixer Upper, but I have heard a lot of good things about the Gaines. The books read like I was sitting down having a conversation with the two of them. Their story is incredible from start to now. Chip has often made sudden decisions and even if Joanna is not on board right away, she comes around and takes his ideas to the next level. They are truly family focused and have tried to help people as they made their businesses work. One of the best stories is in Capital Gaines when Chip thinks going down to Mexico to learn Spanish and leaving Joanna (his girlfriend at the time) to run his business. He learns a lot of lessons from that one experience.

I would recommend these books to anyone high school age or older. If you are a Gaines’ fan, you will truly enjoy knowing the details of their story. I’m going to start saying my claim to fame is being at Baylor University the same time as Chip for one year (1997-98).

Are you a Chip and Joanna fan? What is your favorite thing about them? Comment below!

Buy the books here (affiliate link).

The Magnolia Story

Capital Gaines

This review was shared on An Open Book with Carolyn Astfalk.