The war doesn’t always end when they come home
Discover FOR NOW, an emotional young adult contemporary novel by Brandy Woods Snow exploring combat PTSD, generational trauma, family, love, and healing.
Dacus Michaelson is keeping his head down. With 250 hours of community service for a mistake that really wasn’t his and a father whose unchecked combat PTSD is quietly unraveling his family, life feels more about survival than ambition.
Charleigh Hawkins has a plan for everything—AP classes, philanthropic extracurriculars, and a prestigious fellowship to launch her future. The only thing she can’t seem to manage is her father’s impossible expectations.
Thrown together volunteering at a nursing home, the clash comes before the connection. But when Charleigh’s fellowship project becomes an investigation into the generational trauma of combat PTSD, Dacus reluctantly becomes a research partner… and then more. But the closer they get, the harder it becomes to keep the darkness at bay, and when it finally breaks through, it touches them both in ways they never saw coming.
Now Charleigh must decide what she’s fighting for—a carefully constructed future that’s cracking at the seams or the boy who showed her that real life begins in the messy truths of who we really are.
For Now explores the war after the war and the casualties that rarely make the headlines—quiet wounds passed down through the generations and the courage it takes to finally set them down.
Praise for FOR NOW
“A wonderfully written novel about the effects of Combat PTSD not just upon military veterans, but also their families and friends. I learned much about this subject that I was not aware of before, especially about different attitudes that people have towards those suffering from it.”
“For Now… such an honest title for a book that touches on such a heavy topic. This book was an eye opener and a well done representation of families that face these struggles every single day. It emphasized the need for resources and support for soldiers who come back from wars and their experiences bleed into the fabric of their family life… and how that trickles down one generation to the next. These risks of these families not getting the help that they need. The lives that were lost that could have been prevented. And then the author’s note at the end. I just want to say thank you for not waiting any longer to get this story out there. These stories need to be heard just as much as the ‘happy’ ones.”
“We work with veterans and their families every day, and one thing we know is that trauma doesn’t stay with the person who served, it moves through the whole household, sometimes for generations. For Now puts that truth at the center of a story instead of a statistic. The Michaelson and Hawkins families in this book will feel familiar to anyone who’s watched combat trauma move through a household. Dacus carries a father’s untreated PTSD quietly, the way so many kids in military families learn to. Charleigh has spent her whole life mastering the version of herself everyone expects, until a research project she didn’t choose forces her to see what that kind of quiet damage actually costs a family. Neither of them set out to understand the other’s weight, but that’s exactly where the book finds its strongest footing. This is a book that works two ways at once. For military families, it’s a mirror, proof that what happens in your own home isn’t as isolating as it feels, and that someone finally wrote it down. For readers outside that world, it’s a window into a reality most people never see up close, what combat trauma actually looks like once it settles into a family and gets passed down. Both readers need this story, just for different reasons. Generational combat trauma doesn’t get nearly enough attention in fiction, and Brandy gives it the care it deserves. We’re proud to help get this one into readers’ hands.”
“A strong YA that illuminates the toll of PTSD not only on individuals and families, but multi-generational impact. I got new understanding from this book, which I thought did a good job of telling a convincing story at the same time. I think a lot of people can benefit from reading this book — makes the whole huge topic of PTSD more understandable and approachable.”
“For Now by Brandy Woods Snow showcases the raw intensity and realities of the tolls that PTSD takes on a family. I felt like I was getting to know the characters on such a deep and personal level alongside them. Brandy Woods Snow also did a great job of displaying the impacts and hardships of PTSD while still keeping the book YA friendly.”
“I SOBBED. There were multiple parts of this story that reduced me to tears and I am not a crier. By the last couple chapters I was bawling. This was so well written.”
FOR NOW in the Media
Military spouse reveals the wounds military families carry in new book ‘For Now’; We Are The Mighty/Mighty Milspouse, October 2026
When War Comes Home: Brandy Woods Snow Gives Military Families a Voice in For Now; MilitaryLoop.com, September 2026
When the war comes home: New book explores combat PTSD’s impact on families; Fox Carolina News/Cristina Feliciano, October 2026
Instagram Live with Military Families Magazine; @Katehasthoughts/Military Families Magazine, October 2026
Author tackles PTSD’s effects on families in latest book; Military Families Magazine, October 2026
New book explores combat PTSD’s impact on military families; Combat Recovery Foundation, September 2026
Straight Talk with Bill Frady; 98.9 FM WORD