The Bluff - by Wade Rouse (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Succession meets The Family Stone in bestselling author Wade Rouse's humorous and sharply observant look at a family teetering on the edge of merry mayhem.

The Chapmans do Christmas the way they do everything: impeccably, expensively, and with the unshakable belief that good lighting can conceal bad blood. Their annual Christmas card may look picture-perfect, but behind the polite smiles there's a storm brewing. This year, at their grand lakefront cottage on Mackinac Island, a snowstorm traps generations of Chapmans--and their schemes--under one roof.

Chris Chapman is on the verge of losing everything: his father's trust, his role at the helm of the family business, and his wife's respect. Kat Chapman is already fed up with hosting her critical, stuck-up in-laws and their impossibly inflexible holiday traditions. Her solution? Invite her working-class parents - born and bred Islanders - for Christmas, much to the horror of the Chapmans, whose rule that "We do not share Christmas with other people" is about to be broken.

As the snow piles up, so do the grievances: their teenagers--fiercely liberal Leah and conservative golden-boy Chip--are locked in a battle of wits, Chris's vaguely corrupt brother Cormac and his calculating trophy wife are stirring the pot, and Kat's mother is holding onto a secret that could upend the entire game.

Deliciously messy and surprisingly tender, The Bluff is a feisty festive family drama about money, marriage, power, and all the things we bring to the holiday table besides the turkey.


"A heartfelt dive into the complexities of family and tradition. The Bluff captures the perfect storm that occurs when two different worlds collide during the holidays. An evocative must-read for anyone who has ever attempted the delicate dance of a family Christmas." -Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Review Quotes

"The Bluff takes a page from the 2005 movie The Family Stone and TV's Succession, drawing readers into the chaos of a family coming together--or in some cases, tearing each other apart--for Christmas. Readers who enjoyed The Family Stone or Emma Straub's The Vacationers will not want to miss this rollicking title."-Library Journal

"A heartfelt dive into the complexities of family and tradition. Set against the stunning backdrop of Mackinac Island, The Bluff captures the perfect storm that occurs when two different worlds collide during the holidays. With sharp wit and authentic emotional resonance, the story explores the masks we wear and the courage it takes to finally show our true selves. A poignant, evocative must-read for anyone who has ever attempted the delicate dance of a family Christmas." -Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

"Fans of The Golden Girls will love this book inspired by the show, about friendship and aging in style. It's hilarious, I laughed out loud....it's a great book."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander on Today.com on That's What Friends are For

"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

"By turns hilarious, tender, and devastating, That's What Friends are For 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 again. I loved this ode to the family we find, the family we reinvent, and the support systems we lean on to find our authentic selves." -- Jodi Picoult, #1 New York TImes bestselling author

"This story will surely stick with me for a long while. Wade Rouse's writing is both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving. That's What Friends are For was warm and tender, but so incredibly profound and heartbreaking at times too! I feel like I experienced the full range of emotions reading this book, and I soaked up every word of it."--Anneliese Judge, actor and founder of the 'who to judge?' book club