Totally Booked with Zibby: Live with Wade Rouse!

About the book:

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.
About the author:

Wade Rouse is the USA TODAY and #1 internationally bestselling author of 18 books, including five memoirs as well as 13 novels written under his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, a pen name he chose to honor the working poor Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life. Wade’s books have been translated into over 30 languages. Wade’s books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers as well as Michigan Notable Books of the Year, and they have been featured on Good Morning America, NPR, in the Washington Post, and on Chelsea Lately. Wade was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (he lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (Wade was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson). That’s What Friends Are For, which publishes March 3, is inspired by the classic TV sitcom The Golden Girls and set in Palm Springs; it marks the first novel under Wade’s own name and was named a Zibby Most Anticipated Book of 2026. Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs with his husband, Gary, and their rescue dog, Gerti, and hosts the popular Facebook Live literary happy hour, “Wine & Words with Wade,” every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET live on the Viola Shipman Facebook page. For more, visit waderouse.com or violashipman.com

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