Yvonne
Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house during the last week.
Be warned that Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
Your host for September 2013, is Yolanda over at ‘Notorious Spinks Talks’
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
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My book this week is another of those ‘out of the blue’ review requests, this time from Kristen Broyles, a publicist at the Bohlsen Group Public Relations Agency, where she focuses on Author Solutions, an indie book publisher and a Penguin Random House company. The premise for ‘Team Charlie’, written by author Mark Evan, is intriguing and very alluring, something completely different from anything I have read before and as Mark himself recognises, very difficult to assign to any one particuler genre.
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‘TEAM CHARLIE’
Meet one-of-a-kind Charlie Davis, middle-aged and divorced. Charlie no longer lives with his wife and children. He’s been hearing voices in his head for years, and has been living under the protective care of his elderly father. But suddenly his father dies, and Charlie is catapulted into a journey to fend for himself, an adventure that leads him from one fascinating predicament to the next. You will laugh and cry with Charlie as he tries his best to survive in a topsy-turvy real world. You will be introduced to all Charlie’s voices, including an eighteenth century pirate, a beatnik bohemian, and a lovely heartthrob from his younger days. The story entertains but also explores the remarkable power of human delusion. And while the ending is predictable, it also comes as a complete surprise.
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MARK EVAN
Mark Evan was born in San Bernardino in 1955. He attended UC Berkeley after high school and graduated with a degree in architecture. After working a wide and varied list of jobs, including in his chosen profession as an architect at Stanford University and for a small real estate development company in Northern California, he moved to Southern California in 1981, with his wife and family, where he started his own construction company.
Mark worked as a general contractor for more than three decades, but has always made time to pursue his passion for writing and has now realised his dream to write full time.
‘Team Charlie’ is the third of Mark’s books to be published and the first full length novel, although there are already two more novels well into the production stage and soon to be ready for release.
So how do I best explain my writing style? I am not a genre writer. I do not specifically write mysteries, thrillers, or romantic novels. I write about a wide variety of topics and circumstances. My goal is to be entertaining, creative, and thought-provoking. If I have captured your attention with a particular tale and helped you to see the world through a different and more thoughtful lens, then I’d consider my efforts a success. I hope you enjoy reading my stories as much as I enjoy writing them.
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I can’t wait to discover all your own great new finds this week … so please stop by and share your link
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I haven’t seen Team Charlie before, but the blurb sounds interesting. If I can get my tbr pile down a little, I think I’d like to read it. Seems instead of my pile going down, it keeps going up.
Have a great week!
Hi Vicki,
Don’t even go there with TBR pile talk! I have so many review requests right now, that I despair of ever actually getting to the physical books I have purchased for myself and which now sit languishing on my TBR shelves. I convinced myself that I shouldn’t be adding any more to the pile, in fact I did go so far as to cull a few of them (UNREAD) a short while ago, only to have replaced most of them with more books that I just couldn’t resist. Is this what an addiction looks and feels like, I wonder?
I thought long and hard before accepting ‘Team Charlie’ for review, as it is so unlike anything I have read before, however curiosity and that thought provoking premise, won the day. There have been some very compilmentary, early reviews, from some of the more sought after review sites and mainstream reviews are beginning to come on line now, all very positive. It does me good to read outside my normal genres sometimes, makes me think about things more deeply.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I always appreciate your comments.
Wow, this one does sound very unique…and I love that cover! Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.
Hi Laurel-Rain,
This does indeed sound like a totally unique premise and one which I think will ultimately prove to be quite a challenging read and so unlike anything I have read before.
The cover has been very thoughtfully and sympathetically designed in keeping with the premise, hasn’t it? It is exactly right for the book.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a good week.
Lovely cover! Have a great week!
Hi Sam,
It’s a cover that you really have to think about and look at in conjunction with the synopsis, isn’t it? The cover artist got it dead on with this one, simple yet totally reflecive of the storyline.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to your review.
Hi RAnn,
You may be waiting quite some time for the review, I’m afraid. My list of review requests is ridiculously long right now, so whilst I can feature books and authors in some of the regular memes in which I participate, I shan’t actually be reading ‘Team Charlie’ until some time down the line.
This is certainly going to be a book with a difference and whilst I am not sure whether I shall like the character of Charlie that much, I know that I am going to be feeling for him almost from the start.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a great week.
Liking the sound of this one, I’m hoping our library has a copy.
Hi Tracy,
I did check out our local library online reservation service, but the search results came back negative. The book is available as a print paperback copy, so I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to order it for you.
I hope that you manage to bag yourself a copy, as it does sound like an interesting premise, doesn’t it?
Have a great week.
It sounds like writing truly is his passion. I’m glad he’s found the time to pursue it and I hope you love the book.
Hi Kathy,
I quite often get to wondering just what I would want to do, if someone said that I was free to follow my greatest passion in life and be good at it!
It would have to involve books, naturally. I always wanted to be a teacher when I was at school but that never happened and now, looking at just how much is expected both from the teachers and pupils these days, I am quite glad that fate took a hand in things!
I would like to be more proficient at arts and crafts, as my knowledge of things like knitting, crocheting and needlework, are rudimentary to say the least.
Mark Evan has obviously found his niche and is enjoying the freedom to pursue his passion, so I am looking forward to sharing some of that journey with him, in ‘Team Charlie’.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment, your thoughts are always appreciated.
Haven’t heard of this book. It sounds interesting. ENJOY!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
Hi Elizabeth,
‘Team Charlie’ was published back in February and although it has yet to receive an abundant supply of reviews, those which have been posted, have all been very positive and complimentary, including one or two from respected industry press sites.
I think this is a story which is going to see me feeling alternately sad and smiling, as the character of Charlie gets under my skin.
Thanks for your comments, they are always appreciated.
This does sound good and the character of Charlie sounds like one the reader would root for. Happy reading 🙂
Hi Naida,
Charlie sounds like a very sad and lonely person, doesn’t he?
I read the part about Charlie hearing voices in his head and got brought up sharply, as I am forever talking to myself when I am concentrating on a task, or more often getting annoyed with myself for not being able to do a certain thing. Well … I have to talk to myself, as it is the only way I get the right answers!
This is a story premise which is a long way from my normal reading genre, so will be quite a change for me.
Thanks for stopping by, your comments, as always, are appreciated.
I hope you love it, Yvonne!
Hi Mary,
I am not sure that I am going to love this book particularly, as I think that it is going to be dealing with some quite difficult issues, in hopefully a sympathetic, yet slightly humorous way, to lighten the storyline a little.
Mental illness is one of those subjects which can be quite tricky to deal with, with any kind of authority, unless you have personal experience of the condition, or caring for someone with the illness, so it will be interesting to see just how Mark fares in that department.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on the post, I appreciate it.
Enjoy! your new book.
http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2013/09/mailbox-monday.html
Hi Mary Ann,
I am certainly looking forward to stretching myself far outside any of the usual genres I read, with this interesting premise.
Thanks for stopping by this week.