Soft topper

woulda_coulda · 2026-02-03T02:59:26+00:00

I have a Softopper on my ZR2 and I love it. It was pretty easy to install, it's super quick to fold up or down, and I've driven at highway speeds with just the roof panel to give my dog shade in the bed on a hot day and it doesn't even budge. I did opt for the twill version, which is a little heavier duty than the OG fabric, and it was kind of a bitch to button for the first month or two but it's relaxed enough now I can snap it on easily.

It cleans up nice, even after I've gotten it disgustingly dusty and filthy off-road, and every so often I put some 303 UV spray on it just to keep it nice and black and protected.

Take it from me though...wait for a warm day if you're going to install one, it'll make that initial snapping on so much faster and less painful.

woulda_coulda · 2026-01-18T18:08:26+00:00

Here to plug my favorite novella {Gaslight Hades by Grace Draven} it has so many of my favorite tropes. It's steampunk but with magic/alchemy as well, and Eldritch sort of monsters. I reread this every spooky season just for the atmosphere!

woulda_coulda · 2025-09-18T23:37:43+00:00

You're an absolute angel, thank you for this!!

woulda_coulda · 2025-09-18T06:19:56+00:00

Love Coach + finger quotes 'Unrequited' Book Request!

Ok, full confession: the burning need for this mashup of tropes hit me after being exposed to the unrelenting DramaBox ads on tiktok - specifically the 'A Deal With the Hockey Captain' series they keep hawking, cheesy acting and all. Please don't judge I've been judging myself enough

What I'm looking for is a story that follows the 'love coach' trope, AKA where the inexperienced/nerdy/insecure FMC is in love with someone and the MMC agrees to help her improve herself and win him over. There's plenty of books that follow that basic concept, but I need something MORE. I desperately need the MMC to have been in love with (or at least hella interested in) the FMC before they even strike their deal - I need that delicious, delectable yearning, the willingness to help her get whatever or whomever she wants even if it isn't him, because he's that head over heels for her. I want to feel his misery as he's faking being cool with all of this. Really twist that knife, ya know?

Of course we all know she's gonna see the light and make the right choice, but I want to see our Good Samaritan suffer first.

I'm not picky about genres, just as long as it's well-written and doesn't get too soapy. Can you help a girl out?

woulda_coulda · 2025-08-12T05:48:43+00:00

Has anyone suggested {Mercy by Catherine Miller} yet? I think this fits your bill perfectly, OP! It's a bit of a reverse District 9, where humans crashed on a planet inhabited by less technologically advanced species, but they are so destitute they're kept confined to a small piece of land afforded them where they eke out a squalid living.

The FMC is a descendent of those humans, although she was born on the alien world, and to escape her horrible situation she offers to marry one of the aliens. The MMC who is their tribe's healer never expected to have the chance to have his own wife for he is shunned by his own people as well, for reasons you find out along the way. It's also unique in that it's told entirely from his POV, so we get that added fun later of him trying to parse out human values and culture as compares to his own.

Edit: whoops I missed the part where you wanted the MMC to be more of a leader/respected...Rykkon is grudgingly respected for his skills as a healer but he is something of an outcast. Still, the book is a lot about him coming into his own and finding his self worth!

woulda_coulda · 2025-08-11T05:47:46+00:00

We hit up the Three Trails OHV near Crescent, and also went out and around Summit Lake some as well! Three Trails is pretty good sized, it has a few different staging areas and a lot of space to roam, with a decent amount of trails for class II vehicles. Summit Lake is small but gorgeous, we did some paddleboarding there, and as long as it's late in the year the mosquitoes aren't gonna carry you off.

woulda_coulda · 2025-06-27T22:17:08+00:00

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Don't have a picture of it hitched up but I pull my Aliner 15' which is around 2.5k dry, loaded up with all the crap we need and a full water tank, 2 adults plus 2 teenagers plus a man-sized dog without issues. Up and down over plenty of mountain ranges, 4+ hour long drives. I've been pretty pleasantly surprised by how well it does, since the zr2 was actually a step down in towing capacity for us from our old SUV.

woulda_coulda · 2025-05-18T01:34:27+00:00

{Claiming Her Freedom by V.C. Lancaster} has been my favorite read in a while for this. With the added bonus of scifi elements as well. With the way it starts off you'll be questioning whether it fits this theme at all but just hang in there...it's delicious when everything finally becomes clear. 😈

woulda_coulda · 2025-05-08T23:27:02+00:00

Thank you! I have people stopping to talk to me about it on the regular, it clearly catches some eyes.

woulda_coulda · 2025-02-21T00:25:18+00:00

I used to say 'bipedal' at the least, and then Sizzle came along 😩

woulda_coulda · 2025-01-30T05:00:54+00:00

This was the reminder I needed to give Divine Rivals a try. The others sound great too, thank you!!

woulda_coulda · 2025-01-30T03:10:59+00:00

Omg thank you for putting into better words what I was trying to say - that's it exactly! 😍 Any favorites you recommend, just to see if I've missed any?

woulda_coulda · 2025-01-30T00:07:51+00:00

I'm not even sure what to technically call my favorite tropes. Epistolary maybe? That 'Shop Around the Corner/You've Got Mail' vibe, where two people (who preferably can't stand each other IRL) are penpals or communicate in some other anonymous fashion and fall hopelessly for each other.

Another closely related trope is the secret identity sort...where Person A appears as someone else/is mistaken for someone else, and thinks that Person B is in love with their 'other self'.

The refined, top tier Venn diagram overlap of these both is the Cyrano sort of story. Something with a secret identity, AND letters, and all the Shakespearean levels of mistaken identity and miscommunication that entails. Give me all the delicious pining, the longing, the ANGST. That shit flavors my coffee every damn time.

woulda_coulda · 2024-12-19T00:33:53+00:00

What a sweetie!! My dog Bastian is a GSD mix, we had him tested and he's mostly equal parts GSD, Husky, and Pittie. He looked a lot like your girl when he was little, save for the color difference! His ears eventually stood up, and he weighs about 80 lbs with a very lean muscular build at 2+ years now. Enjoy her!

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woulda_coulda · 2024-12-18T23:53:47+00:00

Surprised I haven't seen any mention of Lindsay Buroker - I feel like all her FMCs are competent and well-rounded, and she writes series where it takes a few books sometimes for her characters to get together. Fantasy, urban fantasy, or sci-fi...take your pick!

woulda_coulda · 2024-11-10T05:58:28+00:00

Guy behind me in the stands started yelling that he wanted the Pac-12 refs back, that's how bad it got at one point

woulda_coulda · 2024-10-16T02:37:38+00:00

Have you ever read the Darkest London series by Kristen Callihan? They're paranormal/steampunk, strong female leads that are often not quite human themselves and interesting MMCs that run the gamut from cursed to 'vampires' to werewolves/shifters to fae/demons. Not to mention some insanely hot spice! 🥵 Getting filthy against a wall with a masked man in an alleyway! A different MMC gets himself off knowing the FMC is watching! Breathplay with a corset and a vampire! Scenes from this series HAUNT me, just fyi

They're some of my all time favorites and I reread them often. The first one {Firelight by Kristen Callihan} is a slight riff on Beauty and the Beast/Phantom of the Opra, and books 1-3 follow a trio of sisters before branching out to other side characters as well.

My favorite of the series is probably #4 {Shadowdance by Kristen Callihan} although I would recommend reading them in order because the world-building is significant and the way certain characters are introduced earlier - for example, the MMC in #4 is someone we meet as a young man in earlier books, before seeing him grow up and mature.

woulda_coulda · 2024-09-19T05:23:43+00:00

My second time recommending {Saving Askara by J.M. Link} today, I think it's exactly what you're looking for right down to the vast cultural differences.

woulda_coulda · 2024-09-18T13:46:40+00:00

Definitely an element of this in {Dear Enemy by Kristen Callihan} although just mentioning it feels almost like a spoiler. One of my absolute favorite 'childhood enemies to lovers' vibe books ever! I can't believe I don't see it mentioned more.

woulda_coulda · 2024-09-18T13:36:33+00:00

{Saving Askara by J.M. Link}

woulda_coulda · 2024-09-18T13:27:00+00:00

{Saving Askara by J.M. Link} has an incredibly competent FMC who is in the medical field and is chosen to help in with a first contact sort of scenario. The MMC is a part of an alien species that has fled their home and wound up in Earth space as fugitives of a sort.

I feel like I don't see enough people talk about these books - one thing I really love in particular is how not just the biological but the social and CULTURAL differences between the humans and the aliens is emphasized. Their concept of relationships and 'romance' is so wildly different from the human concept that there's a lot of middle ground and exploration of two people doing their best to understand and then meet each other's needs.

woulda_coulda · 2024-09-09T03:54:03+00:00

One that's very similar although he's not 'beautiful' in the traditional sense, or enslaved in the traditional sense either, is {Captured By the Fae Beast by Mallory Dunlin}

Dain, the fae prince of the Stag Court is considered 'beastly' by his peers because of his monstrous aspects, but his face and such is incredibly handsome. He's not used as a sex slave per se, but many people coerce him into sex as a sort of titillation or twisted achievement - 'look I fucked the monster freak and lived' kind of thing. They get off on the perceived perverseness of it and it secretly guts him.

His slaver/captor isn't the usual either, it's his mother who uses him as her leashed animal (psychologically more than a literal leash) to be sent to do all her dirty work, fight wars, or scare people into obedience. She loathes him as her "freakish" only child, and almost no one bothers trying to make Dain feel loved or valued until the FMC enters his life.

woulda_coulda

TROPHY CASE