That’s What Friends Are For by Wade Rouse

MIRA (March 3, 2026)

Sibling Fiction/Gay Fiction/Friendship Fiction

In this poignant and hilarious story inspired by TV’s beloved The Golden Girls, bestselling author Wade Rouse celebrates love, aging, finding your people, and the art of impeccably timed one-liners.

Theodore Copeland has created a fabulous life in the desert oasis of Palm Springs, where he shares a fabulous pink mid-century home with three fabulous friends: Barry, a former actor still clinging to his youth, his hair, and the memory of the dream role that killed his career; Ron, an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart but no one to give it to; Sid, who, after coming out late in life, has never found love. Teddy is the caustic, unspoken leader of “The Golden Gays”—the foursome’s monthly drag tribute to The Golden Girls. Despite their foibles and bickering, they have turned their golden years into a golden era.

But the harmony of their desert enclave becomes a carousel of emotional baggage when Teddy’s estranged sister, Trudy, shows up on their doorstep, her dramatic teenage granddaughter in tow. While Teddy keeps Trudy at arm’s length, she manages to wheedle her way into the lives of the Golden Gays, until the real reason for her visit is revealed and the secrets they’ve all been keeping from each other unravel faster than a hastily stitched hemline.

A novel that gives thanks to “old” friends, That’s What Friends Are For proves that while family may be the tie that binds, it’s the chosen family that truly keeps us together.

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That’s What Friends Are For – Wade Rouse

REVIEW

A wonderful story with themes of aging, family, and friendship. Four gay best friends that are very much like the Golden Girls characters (which they portray onstage). They are older men who live together in Palm Springs. Each character has a struggle they are going through privately. Once they lean on each other, their individual strengths help one another. A touching, comic read with sass, drama, and friendship.

Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (December 10, 2025)

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wade Rouse is an internationally bestselling author of thirteen books, which have been translated into twenty languages and selected as Today Show Must-Reads, Indie Next Picks and Michigan Notable Books. Rouse writes fiction under his grandma’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the working-poor Ozarks woman whose memory inspires his writing. He lives in Michigan and California, and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, a literary happy hour, every Thursday.

Wade Rouse – USA Today Bestselling Author

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