The man that came home from war wrestling his demons isn’t necessarily the one she remembered as the man of her dreams.

For as long as she can remember, Melanie Roberts has been deeply in love with her best friend.  They took a chance on being lovers in the past but because of their tortured past she’s firmly and mentally placed herself in the “best friend and roommate” category.  The night before he’s to return from his Iraqi deployment, she decides that they’ll have one last night of passion before she moves on with her life.

As Cade Nicholson comes home with a body and soul battered and scarred by his most recent deployment, he’s come to the decision that all he wants is to heal his wounds in Melanie’s arms.  Filled with trepidation at having to bare it all to the woman he loves, he struggles with finding the words that will truly express how he feels about her.

Is it too late for two friends to bravely come together in love, healing their hearts, or will past hurts and insecurities destroy everything between them?

You’ll Think of Me was my first glimpse at Wendi Zwaduk’s work and it won’t be the last.  She’s done a superb job revealing the emotional scars that our service men and women experience while fulfilling the call of duty, and how their loved ones struggle to support them.  Cade was flawed – he had extreme difficulties expressing himself emotionally to the one person he really needed to which is hard enough for any man without the complication of PTSD.  Melanie was compassionate and supportive, and at first thought that she was not as strong a woman as she could have been.  She hung around and remained friends with Cade even after a painful break up, relegating herself to a “friend with benefits” type of arrangement.  She did “keep the home fires burning” but at the same time made plans to live her life separate from Cade,  after coming to the realization that her life was becoming stagnant.

There was plenty of emotional dysfunction between the couple – they tended to use sex as a diversionary tactic rather than talk about the issues facing them – but darn was it hot!  There was an added bonus of Cade’s friend Rhett who came home on leave, to add a little splice and help air out the differences the couple experienced.

You’ll Think of Me is a short read, full of love, angst and passion – well done Ms.Zwaduk!