Play 2026 Book Bingo
Wade Rouse and Viola Shipman Books
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.One of our favorite authors has achieved success under both his own name (Wade Rouse) and his grandmother’s name (Viola Shipman), which he uses as a pen name. Prior to 2026, he wrote novels as Viola Shipman, while publishing memoirs under Wade Rouse. In 2026, the first two Wade Rouse novels will be published, so it’s the perfect time for us to share an author guide introducing you to one of our favorite authors of feel-good books.
Novels & Memoirs by Wade Rouse
That’s What Friends Are For
Book Summary
If you loved the Miami-set Golden Girls, then you’re going to want to meet The Golden Gays of Palm Springs! Theodore (Teddy) has created a fabulous life in his pink, mid-century desert home that he shares with three friends. Barry is a former child actor still trying to cling to his youth and his hair. Ron is an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart. And Sid, who came out late in life, has never been in love. Despite their sniping and bickering, they’ve created a great life for themselves in their golden years.
Things get upended when Teddy’s estranged sister, Trudy, shows up at their doorstep alongside her dramatic teenage granddaughter. Despite Teddy’s efforts to keep Trudy at a distance, she manages to worm her way into all their lives. When the real reason for her visit is revealed, the secrets they’ve all been keeping begin unraveling.
Inspiration for the Story
Author Wade Rouse says he was inspired by the character Coco, the gay housekeeper on the hit TV show The Golden Girls, who was cut after the pilot episode to make room for Sophia as a main character. In an interview with People magazine, Rouse explains, “I fictionalize the life of this actor who had the role of a lifetime ripped away from him and share the struggle of a man trying to get that back his entire career.”
The Bluff
Book Summary
The Chapman family is obsessed with looking impeccable and wealthy from the outside. They spend Christmases at their grand lakefront cottage on Mackinac Island, which comes with years of inflexible traditions.
This year, adult son Chris is on the verge of losing everything, from his role leading the family business to his wife’s respect. Kat is fed up with her critical in-laws and being forced to spend her holidays living by their rules. Much to the horror of the Chapmans, she decides to invite her working-class parents for Christmas. Everyone can see this will be a disaster…and that’s before the snowstorm traps them all together.
Thoughts on This Book
This 2026 Christmas novel is described by the publisher as Succession meets The Family Stone. We can’t wait to read it!
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In this moving memoir, author Wade Rouse, who writes fiction under the pen name Viola Shipman, shares the story of his complicated relationship with his father. Growing up as a queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade and his father, Ted, had little in common. Wade was never the athlete his father hoped for, but his desire to connect with his father and gain his approval led Wade to learn the vocabulary of baseball and to watch the game with his dad season after season.
As an adult, he and his father rarely saw eye-to-eye, but it was always baseball that brought them back together. When his father’s health declines, Wade returns home to southwest Missouri to spend one final season with his father. Inning by inning, they move closer toward forgiveness, reconciliation, and closure.
Our Thoughts on This Book
This memoir is a poignant look at a son who refused to give up on his father, no matter how many times and how many ways his dad pushed him away. It’s filled with the same heart and soul that comes through so clearly in his fiction writing.
Over the past few years, Wade Rouse (aka Viola Shipman) has become one of Angela and Melissa’s favorite authors. This insight into his upbringing adds a new layer to our appreciation for his fiction work.
Additional Memoirs
Before writing novels as either Wade Rouse or Viola Shipman, Rouse got his career started with a series of memoirs about different phases of his life.
America’s Boy – originally published in 2006, republished in 2025
It’s All Relative – published 2011
At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream – published 2009
Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler – published 2007
Novels by Viola Shipman
The novels below are in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest.
The Page Turner
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
91% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Emma’s parents are both highbrow authors and publishers with their own vanity press. They look down on anything popular, mainstream, or that they deem as not literary enough. Her sister is also in the industry as a well-known book influencer promoting the family’s books. Emma recently graduated from the University of Michigan, but her dreams of being a romance author make her the black sheep.
At the family cottage on Lake Michigan, she finds inspiration for her own writing in the juicy romance novels that once belonged to her grandmother. But that’s not all she finds in Gigi’s belongings. She discovers a secret that has the power to ruin her parents’ business and destroy their reputation in the industry. Now, it’s time to decide if she’s okay letting her parents be exposed, or if she needs to protect the family legacy despite all the times they’ve treated her poorly.
What to Expect in This Book
This book is set squarely in the publishing world and offers a great glimpse into the process of creating a book—the good and the bad.
His books are largely character studies rather than fast-paced plots, so pick this one up when you’re in the mood to cozy up and be transported into the lives of a complicated publishing family in Michigan.
The Wishing Bridge
Book Summary
Henrietta (Henri) is a successful mergers and acquisitions executive, but the next generation of employees at the company are eager to replace her. Henri’s boss informs her that she’ll be out of work if she doesn’t close a big deal before the end of the year. Desperate to keep her job, Henri assures her boss that she can convince her parents to sell their iconic small-town Christmas store to a huge corporate client.
Henri typically only leaves her job in Detroit long enough for a quick, 24-hour holiday visit with her mom and dad. Imagine their surprise when she shows up at the family business in early December. Her parents are thrilled to see her, but her brother is immediately suspicious.
While she’s used to closing cold corporate deals, she finds herself reconnecting with the warmth of the family store and her hometown. Will she be able to close the deal and save her career even if it hurts her family?
Famous in a Small Town
Book Summary
Mary Jackson is from a long line of women who have spent their lives running the Very Cherry General Store in Good Heart, Michigan. Like her lakeside hometown, the store is constantly inundated by tourists and facing threats from developers. She’s in her eighties and ready to retire, but when she was young, a mysterious prediction told her to await the arrival of a stranger – a young woman – to take over the store and carry on her legacy.
Newly 40, Becky Thatcher takes a vacation to Good Heart with her best friend in order to forget about her real-life troubles for a while. After meeting Mary at Very Cherry and listening to the octogenarian talk about destiny, Becky begins to reflect on childhood memories and future goals.
What to Expect in This Book
This is the first Viola Shipman book we’ve read that has a thread of magical realism, and we loved how seamlessly it was woven throughout the story. We also loved that the magical elements did not overpower the very real-life lessons about family and friendship.
A Wish for Winter
Book Summary
Susan runs a successful bookstore in a small Michigan lakeside community. Her teen years were rough as she lost both parents just before her fourteenth birthday. However, her loving grandparents and quirky, devoted friends have been a caring help along the way.
But now, she’s on the verge of a crisis as she approaches her 40th birthday. Her mom was 40 when the accident occurred, and Susan is stuck in a comparison trap. She can’t stop thinking of all her mom had achieved by that age. Adding to the pressure is the town’s belief that Susan is destined to meet a man dressed as Santa to be her husband, just like her mother and grandmother did.
When she has a surprising connection with a man at the town’s annual Santa Run, she can’t believe he gets lost in the crowd before she can even get his name. Over the next year, Susan and her friends are determined to track him down, leading to a hilarious and heartwarming search.
The Edge of Summer
Real Name: Wade Rouse
Book Summary
Grieving her mother’s sudden death, fashion designer Sutton Douglas is left with more questions than closure. Her mother, a private Southern seamstress known as “Miss Mabel,” often shared her pearls of Ozarks wisdom but shielded Sutton from their family history.
Heartbroken and seeking answers to lifelong questions, Sutton impulsively heads to the resort town of Saugatuck–Douglas on Lake Michigan. There, she purchases a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the matriarch of the lakeside community. The trinkets remind Sutton of Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that she played with as a child. When she realizes how closely the collection mirrors her mother’s, she begins to suspect that she and Bonnie may be related.
Sutton cautiously befriends the older woman and is taken into her confidence. Slowly, she begins to uncover the truth about her family that Miss Mabel hid so carefully.
The Secret of Snow
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Southern Californian meteorologist Sonny is used to weather that matches her name. She’s 50 years old and has just received shocking news at work. The station is replacing her with an AI meteorologist. They claim it’s perfect because AI “will never age, gain weight, or renegotiate its contract.”
Her only job offer is in a very different environment: her cold, northern Michigan hometown. Sonny has quite a rough return, with lake-effect snow, a dark winter, a new boss, and reuniting with her frenemy from school. Beyond that, she has to deal with feelings she left to avoid, like the relationship with her mother and the death of her snow-loving sister.
To help her feel better about the changes in her life, Sonny decides to embrace all things winter. From skiing and sledding to ice fishing and sculptures, she’s ready to embrace it all.
Why This is a Great Pick
This is contemporary fiction with a side of romance, so it’s perfect for those who like a good balance. We especially enjoyed that this book features a middle-aged protagonist.
The Clover Girls
Book Summary
Back in 1985, Elizabeth, Veronica, Rachel, and Emily met at Camp Birchwood. For the next four summers, they were the inseparable Clover Girls…until the last summer pulled them apart.
Now all four are approaching middle age and dealing with much more grown-up challenges in their careers, marriages, and with their children.
Then a letter arrives for each of them from Emily. She shares devastating news and implores them to all return to Camp Birchwood one last time to spend a week revisiting the dreams from their younger days. But they aren’t the same idealistic, confident girls they used to be, and maybe some friendships just aren’t meant to last forever.
Geography Note
The fictional Camp Birchwood is set in Glen Arbor, Michigan. This charming resort town, located along the shores of Lake Michigan, is renowned for its natural beauty, including the nearby Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Viola Shipman (the pen name for Wade Rouse) has deep personal ties to northern Michigan that heavily influence the settings of his novels.
The Heirloom Garden
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
After losing her husband in WWII and her daughter to illness, Iris walled herself off from the world. She’s spent many decades hiding behind the tall fence around her home. In place of human connection, Iris has surrounded herself with a family of flowers. She propagates her daylilies and roses and tends a garden that keeps the memories of those she loved alive.
In the early 2000s, Abby is a young mother whose husband has recently returned from military service in Iraq. When Abby’s family rents a cottage along Lake Michigan, next door to Iris’ property, the older woman can’t help but view the young family as a window to the life she once had.
As Iris and Abby are drawn together by their shared love of flowers, the friendship that blossoms between them is a testament to the healing power of both gardening and human connection.
What to Expect in This Book
This book is an interesting look at PTSD for soldiers returning from war, and its effect on the soldier’s family. The comparisons between the 1940s & 2000s add depth to this theme.
Readers particularly enjoy the audio version of this heartwarming book because of the two different narrators who read for Iris and Abby. Keep the tissues nearby as you read because you’re sure to shed a few cathartic tears during the ultimately uplifting tale.
The Summer Cottage
Book Summary
Adie Lou’s life becomes a cliché after her English professor husband had an affair with one of his grad students. Now, she needs both a place to heal and a project to keep her busy. With her kids out of the nest, it’s the perfect time to restore the charming, ramshackle summer home on Lake Michigan she inherited.
She hopes to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast, but that process is harder than it looks on TV. From expensive surprise costs to roadblocks with Saugatuck’s contentious preservation society, every step forward is a challenge. However, as the home is restored, so is Adie Lou.
The Recipe Box
Book Summary
Samantha grew up in her family’s northern Michigan orchard and pie shop. She left the idyllic setting to make her own mark on the culinary world in New York City. However, her dream life isn’t a dream after all. Instead, she’s overworked and undervalued at a bakery owned by a reality star.
After suffering a final embarrassment by the chef, Sam returns home to spend the summer working on her family’s orchard and baking with her mother and grandmother. One recipe at a time, she learns more about her family’s history and passion for food as they work through a treasured recipe box together. Each chapter starts with a delicious recipe for you to make along with the family.
The Hope Chest
Book Summary
Mattie has always been fiercely independent, so her recent ALS diagnosis has left her frustrated by not being able to do things on her own. Her husband of nearly fifty years, Don, dreads his future without her, as it’s possible she won’t make it to their milestone anniversary.
Mattie and Don’s spirits are lifted with the arrival of her new caretaker, Rose, and Rose’s young daughter. Soon, the group has formed such a new family that Mattie feels compelled to pass on mementos from the hope chest she received from her own mother. Each item helps Mattie, Don, and Rose find hope again as Mattie shares the history of each small heirloom.
The Charm Bracelet
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
It was a yearly birthday tradition for Lolly’s mother to give her a new charm for her bracelet, along with the familiar advice that there is nothing more important than keeping family memories alive. Those charms served as constant reminders of familial love.
Now, at the age of seventy, Lolly’s memory is beginning to fade, and she desperately wants to reconnect with her daughter and granddaughter to share her family stories before it’s too late. When the two finally come home to visit her, the memories behind each charm on her bracelet will finally bring the three women closer to each other and also closer to finding joy, love, and faith.
Christmas Novellas
In addition to his full-length holiday novels, there are Viola Shipman Christmas novellas, including Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village and A Sugarplum Christmas.
Printable Book Tracker
Looking for a printable version of this Wade Rouse & Viola Shipman book list? Our Buy Me a Coffee Members have access to a cute printable tracker featuring the covers of all his novels, including both 2026 releases. Join our membership site today for instant access to your copy, along with some other fun perks!
About Wade Rouse
Wade was raised in Missouri and now calls Michigan home for much of the year with his husband, Gary, who also keeps Wade’s career running behind the scenes. Most of his writing takes place in the carriage house attached to their charming Saugatuck-area cottage, which you can see photos of in this interview with Detroit Design.
His beautiful descriptions of both states are so vivid that you’ll feel as if you’re spending your summers or winters alongside his quirky and lovable characters. Wade, Gary, and their beloved dog spend their winters in Palm Springs, and we love that he’s set “That’s What Friends Are For” in their home away from home.
Other Authors You May Enjoy
- Wade Rouse and Viola Shipman Books
- Ruta Sepetys Books in Order (Including Her 2026 Release)
- Sadeqa Johnson Books in Order (Including Her 2026 Release)
- Guide to Fredrik Backman Books In Order (Including His 2025 Release)
- Jodi Picoult Books in Order
- Ruth Ware Books in Order
- Guide to Liane Moriarty Books in Order
