That’s What Friends Are For
A USA Today Bestseller
Today Show “Best Feel-Good” Read
A Book Bub Top Selection for March
A Zibby Owens Most Anticipated Book Pick of 2026!
New York Post Gift Guide Pick!
People Exclusive Cover Reveal
A Palm Springs Speaks 2026 Featured Book & Author
On Sale Now
In this poignant and hilarious story inspired by the beloved TV sitcom, 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; with Teddy as 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 arms’ 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.
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A USA Today Bestseller
Today Show “Best Feel-Good” Read
Watch the segment here.
“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.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“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. You’re going to love this read, so buy one for a gift and the other to read, stat.” —Emma Sutton-Williams, New York Post
“Ferocious and funny, hopeful and heart-wrenching, a story about what so many of us have endured in this life to find friendship, love and respect in a world that continues to punch us in the gut.” —People