About

 

Author   |   Blog   |   Review Policy   |    Social Media   |   Contact

 

– Author –

I am Ana, pleased to meet you.

I live in Portugal, am in my thirties, a lover of nature, books, movies and random stuff.

Since the last quarter of 2014 or so, when I discovered GoodReads and shortly after Netgalley, I have found that I absolutely love writing reviews on the books I read.

I am your typical introvert. I do however enjoy chatting with all you lovely folks online, so do come in, grab a cup of your beverage of choice, make yourself comfortable, look around and leave your comment.

Also feel free to email me at anaslair@hotmail.com

 

– Blog –

Welcome to my Lair.

In this blog you will mostly find book reviews, occasionally some movie ones as well, a few music videos which I feel accurately portray the genres I enjoy, and other random stuff – the large majority written in English, a few in Portuguese, my native language. I post other things from time to time but they are generally book related.

Navigating the blog should be easy enough, thanks to the sidebar and links at the top of the page:

Pages:

– Home displays all my posts by chronological order.

– Books: Book Reviews indexed by book covers and author.

– Chats: Stuff I would like to discuss with you guys.

– Movies: Movie reviews, indexed by movie title.

– Music: An index of the music videos I have posted.

Sidebar:

– Social Media: Follow Ana’s Lair on Facebook and Twitter and feel free to add me on GoodReads.

– Search my blog: Use this if you are looking for something specific.

– Recent Posts: The 10 most recent posts will be displayed at the top of the sidebar.

– Categories: The main categories come next. Most of them contain the information available in the pages at the top, though there may be the odd one not featured there.

– Tags: Most tags correspond to genres. As the categories above, if you click on a tag, all the posts containing it will appear.

– Currently Reading: This widget links to my GoodReads account and will show whatever books I have marked as Currently Reading.

– Netgalley: I get a large part of my books from Netgalley. I am very thankful to the site and publishers and wanted to display this button.

– Archives and Calendar: You can access my posts chronologically via these options.

– Random stuff like awards, challenges and a follow button.

 

– Review Policy –

What I read and review: Anything from short stories to novellas to full novels to audiobooks (which I have discovered very recently), mostly by new authors who are kind enough to share their work with me, but you will also find a few classics.

Favourite genres: Fantasy, horror, science fiction, some mysteries.

I usually stay far away from romance and certain themes I have grown tired of, like vampires, werewolves and zombies.

Favourite formats: Mobi, paperbacks.

Read for review requests: I am currently not taking requests as my availability has drastically decreased. However, if you think I will really enjoy your book please feel free to use the form below, mentioning in your message whether you have a date in mind by which you would like me to post my review. Do bear in mind that, by submitting this request, you are agreeing to let me post my fully honest thoughts on Ana’s Lair and GoodReads. Let me know if you also want me to post it on Amazon.

– Social Media –

– Contact –

GoodReads group: Book Lair

86 thoughts on “About”

    • Thank you so much, Leigh! I try to have the videos relate to the literature I enjoy reading, to keep it all in context. There’s some great artwork out there, sometimes where you least expect it!

      I might add a page for pictures in the future, maybe movie review too, we’ll see. You know how writers say books write themselves? As in, often times the narrative and characters take directions they weren’t planning on? That’s what is happening here!

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    • Aww shucks, thank you so much! I am still pretty new to this, the blog must be roughly 3 weeks old by now. There is a lot I have been tinkering with and need to edit old posts but so far I have managed to keep it fairly clean which I really love, since it should make it easier to find stuff. Any suggestions are more than appreciated, though!

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  3. Hi Ana. Do you have any interest in reviewing either of my unpuiblished novels. One is a pparanormal crime comedy, LAUGH OUT DEAD, the other is a sci fi comedy, INTELLIGENT DESIGN.
    There are extracts of both on paranorensics.com
    I’m hoping to publish them next year, but they need re-editing first and I am waiting on some covers.

    Rupert

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    • Hello, Dr Rupert, thank you so much for stopping by and for offering your work!
      I don’t think I have read anything of the sort and I would definitely be interested in reading and reviewing your novels.
      Would it be possible to send me the books in mobi format? Also, do you have a date in mind for when you would like the review to be posted? I am a bit swamped at the moment so it might take a while.
      Thank you again for this opportunity.

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      • Formatting may be a bit of a problem; I haven’t tackled that yet. Is pdf any good? PDF’s seem Ok on my kindle.
        Re timeframe, no rush at all, I am just grateful that you have shown an interest. As an avid reader, your opinion would be most welcome while I’m still in the editing stage,

        Ciao

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  4. Oh, what a shame, I have tried reading PDF on my Kindle Paperwhite but the letters are just too small. I will have to read it on my computer, which will take me a while. I will send you an email to the address you provided for WordPress now so we ca discuss the details.

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  6. Oh wow thank you so much, Kimberly! I am beaming, my blog isn’t even 1 month old…
    Not quite sure how this award thing works but thank you! *blushes profusely*

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    • Hello James, thank you very much for your offer. Your book sounds interesting. I am pretty swamped at the moment, so if you do send me a copy please know I am not sure when I will be able to review it. Thank you again for this opportunity.

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    • Thank you, that is very kind of you. I am somewhat of a technophobe myself, so any coding skills applied in my blog sadly cannot be attributed to me.
      I do like things simple, minimalistic even, so this layout appealed to me from the moment I set eyes on it.
      Your blog looks great as well! Love the header image and the whole look of it. And the way you write your reviews, of course.

      Thank you so much for stopping by!

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  9. Hello Ana, thank you for visiting my blog Flights of Fancy, and for following. I’m sorry I’m so late in replying. I really like your blog, we seem to like the same genres, following back.

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  12. Ola Ana! Muito legal esbarrar com você por aqui. Eu escrevo livros de fantasia com muito romance e ação. Devo publicar o meu livro “A Courtroom of Ashes” por volta de Setembro deste ano. Você estaria interessada?

    Grande abraço!

    PS: Sou Brasileira hehe

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    • Olá! É bom finalmente usar a minha língua materna na blogosfera, eheh.

      Muito obrigada pela oferta! Na verdade eu não sou grande fã de romance… Até tendo a fugir dele com todas as minhas forças eheh. Mas em todo o caso gostaria de saber a sinopse do teu livro. Mas não encontro informação sobre ele no GoodReads, podes deixar-me aqui um breve resumo? Obrigada!

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      • Ahah pois mas há vários livros lá ainda não publicados, apenas com data prevista.

        Bem, pelo que li o livro parece muito interessante! Adoro a ideia de outro mundo por detrás dum espelho. E parece que há mais para além do romance, o que me agrada muito.

        Mas pretendes que leia e escreva uma crítica sobre a versão final, certo? Não beta?

        O teu inglês é mesmo muito bom, tens um vocabulário notável, muitos parabéns!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Muito obrigada! Pois é, acho que assim que tiver com a cover pronta vou colocar lá no Goodreads! : ) Por enquanto ainda falta o proof read rsrs. Sim, sim, se você topar, você faria uma resenha sobre a versão final (eu te mandaria um ARC).

        Liked by 1 person

      • Com certeza, gostaria muito, mas só se concordares numa crítica completamente honesta! Hoje em dia já nem costumo aceitar livros de autores porque sinto sempre aquela pressão de escrever algo mais positivo do que realmente sinto, e depois não me sinto bem porque não fui justa para com os outros livros que achei muito melhores, portanto espero que compreendas!

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      • Nossa, eu nunca imaginaria te pedir isso. Até porque é ilegal (na Amazon pelo menos). Muitos autores realmente ajem deste jeito, mas eu sempre coloco um disclaimer na sample que diz que se o leitor quiser, ele pode deixar uma honest review no site de preferência deles. Com ênfase no honest rsrs

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      • Oh, eu acredito que muitos tencionam aceitar uma crítica completamente honesta. Mas são humanos e é claro que ficam triste se não o for. Por isso é que prefiro obter os meus livros pelo Netgalley, não tenho de lidar directamente com pessoas, compreendes? :)

        Liked by 1 person

      • Bem sei, politicagens não é? É claro que doi, mas se o autor é um seasoned pro, ele sabe lidar com isso sem descarregar no reviewer. É um business extremamente subjetivo.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Pois, julgo que é mais complicado para os autores que estão a começar. Mas é um negócio difícil, nem todos conseguem persistir, principalmente autores auto-publicados. Então tento julgar todos de maneira igual, só posso esperar que compreendam!

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      • Acho que o fiz mas não obtive confirmação de que foi enviado. Se não recebeste nada por favor utiliza o formulário nesta página (About). Obrigada.

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  14. Thank you Ana – lovely to meet you. Your book reviews are fantastic and so thorough. I will try to return and read as much as I can. :) BTW my creative writing workshop is run by Isabel De Avila Winter from Portugal. She is a published author. Her family lives in Lisbon and she visits regularly. She is a fantastic teacher.

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  16. Hello Ana!
    I’m pleased to follow your blog. Nicely written reviews and the ‘about’ page is awesome, so neatly described!
    Looking forward to read more from you! :)

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thank you so much for thinking of me! I will check it out as soon as I can but no promises! I suck at these xD But thank you so much for remembering me, I really appreciate it!

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