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Troubled Skies (Blue Skies #3)
Troubled Skies (Blue Skies #3)
Marie Sinclair | 2025 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
TROUBLED SKIES is the third and final book in the Blue Skies trilogy, but the first one I have read. Did I need to read the first two? No, but now I definitely want to.

You know how sometimes, you just want a nice, easy book to whisk you away to a different world from the one you currently live in? Well, that was me, and this book came up on my TBR list at just the right time.

It begins pretty angsty - Ricky is in an Air Traffic accident and ends up in hospital. Not only that, but he's also peeved about his friends finding love (it's reasonable, sort of, trust me!), AND gets kicked out of his home by a landlord that isn't worth the time on the page. So, he does what any reasonable person would do... he splurges his life savings on a ticket to Ibiza and uses his middle name, Adrian, instead of Ricky. Of course, that would work better if he didn't have to board a plane to get to Ibiza. No, scrap that - two planes! Luckily for him, Ren is on hand to help his nerves.

This book had me from the very beginning. No, I don't 100% know why Ricky was so peeved, but the explanations given in the book make perfect sense. The fact that he wanted to get away also makes sense. And Ren... ah, what can I say? I loved him from the very beginning. Okay, maybe not the VERY beginning, but as soon as he meets Adrian, definitely. I also loved how they both had their worries about how this would work in the future, but that didn't stop them from enjoying the time they had.

Ren is the more steadfast character out of the two, which was surprising considering his playboy prince persona. I loved how he did everything he could to ease Adrian's life (when Adrian would let him!) and show him different things. Honestly? If Adrian had asked for the sun, Ren would have been on the phone to someone to figure out how to make it happen. And while Ren was my favourite, I also understood how Adrian felt. Bless him, it was all a bit much after everything he'd been through.

A light-hearted, somewhat low-level angsty, and oh-so romantic story. Just what I need and absolutely 100% adored - of course I recommend it!

ps - Did Sheila survive? My mind won't let it go!!!

** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 8, 2025
  
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Bong Mines Entertainment (15 KP) rated Between Us by Hayden James in Music

Jun 6, 2019 (Updated Jun 6, 2019)  
Between Us by Hayden James
Between Us by Hayden James
2019 | Dance
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Hayden James is a producer and Naations is an LA-based Australian duo. Not too long ago, they released a super-hot dance tune, entitled, “Nowhere to Go”.

The retro-filmstrip footage follows the empowering Venice-based all-women skate crew, GRLSWIRL, down the California Coast. Also, it follows them as they go from piling into a ’70s-style camper van to effortlessly skating the back-streets of Venice.

‘Nowhere To Go’ highlights Hayden and Nicky Night Time’s abilities to produce tracks which are club-ready and radio-friendly.

The likable tune contains a relatable storyline, ear-welcoming vocals, and lush instrumentation flavored with dance, EDM, and electro-pop elements.

Also, it displays Nat Dunn’s powerful vocal performance and songwriting talents.

Naations are responsible for the huge Ibiza 2017 anthem, entitled, “Real Life”, with Gorgon City & Duke Dumont.

Not too long ago, they released their debut EP, entitled, “Teardrop”. The 6-track project serves as an introduction to the duo’s teardrop and star concept, which represents the light and the dark, which inspired their creative process.

They have performed at notable music venues on both sides of the Atlantic, including New York’s Output as well as Brixton Academy and XOYO in London. Also, they made their CRSSD Festival debut alongside Hayden, before heading back to Australia to support British songstress Anne-Marie on the AU leg of her tour.


https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/hayden-james-nowhere-to-go-naations/
  
Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin
Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin
1996 | Electronic, Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Well, what can I say? This is a hugely exciting record. Aphex Twin has got a huge reputation, obviously. When I was 16 it was one of the things which I had on MiniDisc, which we all had back in those days! I would just listen to it continuously. It was just around the time I was starting to make electronic music on my own, and I remember thinking, how can you make this? The technology I had and the software I had was absolutely shit, and I remember fiddling with it and thinking that I couldn't figure out how to make these drum beats so complex, and so delicately put together. Every five seconds or couple of bars something new happens. There's none of this copy and paste which all dance music at the time was doing, thinking in particular of that kind of Ibiza dirge that was shit and was on the radio 24/7. You just get 15 bars of the same thing, then one change, whereas Aphex Twin was the exact opposite of that. He would just keep your interest piqued the whole time, and that's one thing which I have always strived to do with the band, just to stop things being boring. Perhaps we push it too far, but I think all the 'inciness' and the whole thing about not letting it rest and be copied and pasted, I think is in my music as well. The other thing about that record is that it's not really a dance record at all, it's just music. I mean you can dance to it if you want, but there's lots of classical stuff on there really. There are lots of quiet moments, and lots of awkward stuff that is not really dance music."

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Brian Eno recommended Farid El Atrache by Farid El Atrache in Music (curated)

 
Farid El Atrache by Farid El Atrache
Farid El Atrache by Farid El Atrache
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I think the idea is happening upon something without any clue as to what context it comes from. That has been the important thing to me. What do they think about this? Is this pop music to them? Is it religious? One very good example for me was I was in Ibiza listening to North African radio stations and this Arabic song came on and I thought: ""Fuck, I've never heard anything like that."" I had a cassette recorder in this little ghetto blaster so I managed to record a little bit of it, but I couldn't figure out what the name of the artist was or anything, so again I just used to walk into record shops where they sold Arabic records and I would sing this song, but I never found it like that. Then I was in Egypt about 12 years later and I was in a market, and there was a guy selling loads of cassettes so I sang this song to him, and in the meantime I'd changed all of the lyrics, which were in Arabic, into English. In fact, the lyrics I've since found out are ""hebeena, hebeena"", but I was singing it as ""heaviness, heaviness"". So I sung this whole song in English to him with this Arabic melody and he was cracking up. He called all his mates over from the other local stalls and was getting me to do it again. So I sang it again and then asked him, ""What is this song?"" and he said that it was Farid El Atrache. He picked out this cassette and that was the song, I'd finally found it. So to have that experience is almost impossible now."

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Craig David recommended track Show Me Love by Robin Schulz in Sugar by Robin Schulz in Music (curated)

 
Sugar by Robin Schulz
Sugar by Robin Schulz
2015 | Rhythm And Blues
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Show Me Love by Robin Schulz

(0 Ratings)

Track

"This is a go-to tune for me whenever I'm doing any of my TS5 shows. I remember when I was playing out the original in the early ‘90s, but I prefer the remix of it, where the beat is a little tougher. “Show Me Love” is always guaranteed to go down. Anywhere I go, as soon as people hear the opening chords, they're like ‘That's a tune I can make memories to.' “And her voice! I got to meet her at Ibiza Rocks, where I do a pool party residency. I played the song in my set and I looked up on the balcony where she was standing, and it was this moment - I'm playing the song, Robyn S is up there mouthing the words to me. I'm thinking, “Should I jump off the stage and get a mic to her? Should someone get a memo to her to come down?” And she's sending me love heart signs from where she's standing. It's Robyn S! And I'm playing one of the most iconic dance tracks of all time. “Why does it resonate with people? Well, for one, the vocal range she's hitting grabs you from the start, like that long “Ohh” she hits at the top. It's also a very simple synth line, which it has in common with “Nightcrawler” too, and it has a simple chord progression. Everyone was trying to copy that kind of pattern, but her line just nailed it. “And lastly it's what she's trying to say, ‘Show me love’. Instantly you feel this euphoria, you feel uplifted. And it's kind of angsty the 'show me love' she's singing, like ‘you gotta show me love and pass all the nonsense’. But if you don't know the context of the story and you've just got your hands in the air, it’s like “ahhh”, you feel it"

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E2-E4 by Manuel Goettsching / Manuel Gottsching
E2-E4 by Manuel Goettsching / Manuel Gottsching
1984 | Electronic, House
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Andy might have been cheating a little bit by picking two Pogues songs, and I might be doing the same with this, because it’s just under an hour long. I’m getting my money’s worth out of my three picks! “The first time I heard this track was when it was sampled by an Italian house band called Sueño Latino in the late 80s’. Their version had more of a four-on-the-floor kick to it, so you could dance to it and that’s where I first heard it, in Ibiza way back. It really spoke to me straight away; I couldn’t pinpoint any of the sounds and it felt as if it came from the future. It had this Balearic, soulful feel to it and yet it was electronic. It was about as far out a piece of music as I’d experienced and it seemed totally unique at the time. “I slowly unravelled it and got back to the original by Manuel Göttsching, which is just mind-blowing. It goes back to the days of those electronic concept albums. I read somewhere that it wasn’t ever supposed to be released, that he just made it for himself so that he had something to listen to on long-haul flights - which is the kind of self-indulgence you expect from a German electronic pioneer! “I love that it has so much soul and yet it still doesn’t sound as if it’s of this world. It’s a total shapeshifter and there’s still an intoxicating sense of escapism about it for me, which is something I’m always chasing in my own work. Like the Beck and Smiths songs, it was a track that had a profound effect on me, and made me think, “I want to learn how to do that, or at least try. I want to live in that world."

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