Enter to win That's What Friends Are For!

That's What Friends Are For

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THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR follows four aging gay men who live together in a fabulous pink mid-century home and who belong to a monthly drag tribute to The Golden Girls called "The Golden Gays." Theodore (Teddy) Copeland is the group's outspoken leader; Barry is a former actor still clinging to his youth and to the memory of a dream role that killed his career; Ron is an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart but no one to give it to; and Sid, who came out later in life, has never found love. Despite their flaws and disagreements, they have turned their golden years into a golden era.

When an unexpected and unwelcome visitor from Teddy's past-his estranged sister, Trudy-shows up on their doorstep with her dramatic teenage granddaughter Ava in tow, the harmony of their desert oasis is disrupted. Teddy can't understand why his sister, who dismissed him years ago because he was gay, would be here now. What could she possibly want and why would she expect Teddy to help her? While Teddy keeps his sister at arm's length, he can't deny a connection to Ava, who seems eager to know him. This unexpected bond ignites something in Teddy, who decides it's time to share serious news he's been keeping from his friends. His secret sets off a chain reaction of truth-telling. One by one, the friends reveal their secrets. The last one leading to Trudy, and the real reason for her visit, which is the most shocking secret of all

"By turns hilarious, tender, and devastating, Rouse's novel explores what it means to be the sandwich generation of gays today - caught between those who paved the way for equality, those who are too young to credit them, and a world that seems increasingly hostile."
-#1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult

"Wade Rouse has written the most unabashedly joyful novel you'll read this year, a rip-roaringly funny ode to found family, Palm Springs, drag, and Bea Arthur. But beneath all the wigs and the California sunshine, That's What Friends are For is also a poignant study of survival--of what it means to persevere in a world hell-bent on bringing you down, and a celebration of the friends who always have our backs."
-Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

"Full of heart, humor, and friendship, That's What Friends Are For is the perfect cozy gift to make you laugh, cry, and fall in love with your chosen family. Think The Golden Girls meets four gay men and Palm Springs fabulousness. Wade Rouse is quick-witted and heartfelt with every last word."- New York Post

"Rouse delivers an affectionate queer homage to The Golden Girls that reads like a sitcom, complete with broad characters, amusing zingers, and poignant life lessons...Rouse delivers both humor and heart as he emphasizes that 'being a friend is the role of a lifetime.' The result is equally breezy and heartfelt."
-Publishers Weekly

2026 marks a year of firsts for USA Today bestselling author, Wade Rouse. He will publish his first novel under his real name, which is the first of his novels to center on gay characters and the first of his novels to be published in hardcover. The book, THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR (MIRA: March 3, 2026), is an homage to The Golden Girls, drag, Palm Springs, and found family and is drawn in part from Rouse's life and experiences as a gay man. It is the twentieth book Rouse, who has published a dozen novels under the pen name Viola Shipman, has written and is his most personal novel to date..

Wade Rouse is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of five memoirs and twelve novels. His novels, written under the pseudonym Viola Shipman, which he uses to honor his late grandmother, have been selected as Must-Reads by NBC's Today Show as well as Michigan Notable Books of the Year, and featured in the Washington Post. Wade lives in Michigan and California and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, a literary happy hour, on Facebook every Thursday.