NBtM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Benevolent by Erin A. Jensen

Welcome to my stop on the NBtM virtual book tour for Benevolent by Erin A. Jensen. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt for you and a great guest post behind the inspiration for Benevolent. There's also a tour wide giveaway. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for more excerpts, guest posts, interviews, reviews, and more. Enjoy!

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Title: Benevolent
Author: Erin A. Jensen
Publisher: Dream Waters Publishing
Publication Date: August 30th 2018
Genre: Urban Fantasy

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A story about the purpose of life, the healing power of fandom, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Tormented by the in-crowd at school on a daily basis, there were two things that gave fifteen-year-old Abigail Perkins the strength to keep going—her best friend, Danny Cobb; and her favorite television show, Supernatural. But the night Danny’s mother calls to say that his battle with cancer is nearing its end, and the doctors don’t expect him to live through the night, even Supernatural can’t dull the ache in her heart.

Devastated by her impending loss and crushed that Danny’s mother won’t allow her to visit him one last time, Abigail crawls into bed and cries herself to sleep that night; and she wakes to find Supernatural’s most endearing angel standing at the foot of her bed.

Told from Abigail’s perspective as she nears the end of her long life and revisits the moments that defined it, this story was inspired by the deep connection that Supernatural fans feel with the show’s beloved characters, and the show’s miraculous ability to help its fans through troubled times.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Book Depository * Books-A-Million * IndieBound

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EXCERPT:

I shuffled across the room with a heavy heart, crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep, aching in the knowledge that I’d most likely wake in a world that my friend no longer inhabited.

That was the first night that he ever came to me in a dream.

“Would you like to say your goodbyes now, Abigail?” a male voice inquired from the foot of my bed.

A deep male voice—rousing me from sleep in the middle of the night—probably should’ve terrified me, but it didn’t because this man’s voice was a familiar comfort.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, which was pointless since I was obviously still dreaming. There at the foot of my bed, stood my favorite television angel, dressed in a button-down shirt, crooked necktie, and that iconic trench coat of his. He was beautiful, flawless bone structure, stylishly mussed-up hair, and piercing blue eyes that looked far too wise to belong to this man at the peak of physical perfection.

I blinked my eyes a few times to reboot my senses, but he still stood there waiting for an answer. “Castiel?” I muttered in a groggy whisper, “Am I dreaming?”

He smiled at me with more compassion than I’d ever witnessed in any human set of eyes. “Yes. You are, but that doesn’t make this any less real.”

“I’ve lost my mind,” I muttered as my eyes filled with tears. “My best friend is dying and I’m sitting on my bed, talking to a fictional angel.”

His brilliant blue eyes brimmed with sorrow as he shook his head. “You are talking to a real angel. I chose this form because the fictional angel is a comfort to you.”

I blinked my eyes a few more times, expecting him to be gone each time my eyelids lifted. “What?”

His apologetic frown did nothing to detract from his beauty. “There isn’t much time to explain, Abigail. Danny is not long for this world, and I know how much he means to you. His mother is wrong to deny you the opportunity to say goodbye.”

“How would we get there?” I muttered, ignoring the way my heart ached at the angel’s words. If I focused on that pain, I would fall apart, this dream would morph into something nightmarish, and I’d lose this imaginary chance to see my friend one last time. “I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to leave the house with strange men who slip into my bedroom in the middle of the night.”

“I’m not a man,” he whispered as he touched a hand to my foot.

The instant he touched me, my room melted away and I found myself sitting on Danny’s hospital bed.

My eyes filled with tears at the sight of all the tubes and wires connected to my friend’s brittle body. I looked up and felt comforted by the angel’s presence.

“He can hear you,” the angel standing beside the bed whispered.

“Danny,” I croaked as I slid closer to him, “it’s me, Abigail.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Erin Jensen is the Amazon International bestselling author of The Dream Waters Series. She was awarded the Bronze Medal for fantasy fiction in the 2018 Readers' Favorite international book awards. She also received Honorable Mention for fantasy fiction in the 2018 Writer's Digest self-published e-book awards. A part-time pharmacist and a full-time daydreamer, she resides in upstate New York with her ridiculously supportive husband, two teenage sons--who are both taller than her--and a Yorkshire terrier who thinks he's the family bodyguard.

Website * Amazon * Blog * Facebook * Goodreads * Twitter

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GUEST POST:
My Inspiration for Benevolent
by Erin A. Jensen

There are lots of different things that inspired my latest novel, Benevolent. It started with the angel Castiel from the television show Supernatural. Feeling unproductive after watching an episode of the show one night, I started surfing the internet to find out if Castiel was the name of an actual angel in the Bible. From there, I ended up watching YouTube clips of Castiel’s scenes from the show, which led to videos of Misha Collins (the actor who plays the character) at Supernatural conventions. That’s when I learned about Random Acts, the charity Misha co-founded. Inspired by all the good the actor had accomplished, I took a peek at his Twitter feed. That’s where the idea for Benevolent finally came to me.

By the time I made it to Misha’s Twitter feed, I’d read a lot about the Supernatural fandom. I’d learned that many fans of the show have told the actors that Supernatural was the only thing that kept them going during a time when they thought about ending their life. I also discovered that Random Acts—in partnership with charities other actors from the show are involved with—responded to this by forming the SPN family crisis support network. Random Acts even pays for the training of people who are interested in becoming crisis responders. But in the end, it was a fan’s Twitter profile picture that inspired the concept for my story. The girl in the picture was in her teens, and she was standing beside Misha Collins. She had a big smile on her face, but there was so much sorrow in her eyes. You could just tell that this moment meant the world to her. Misha’s expression suggested that he knew exactly how much that moment meant to her, and for that brief flash of the camera, he was every bit the angel she needed him to be. The idea that this show and its characters could give its fans something to hold onto when they were struggling to keep going became the heart of my story.

As I began writing the story, I realized this book was my opportunity to make a difference in the world. Donating 100% of the book’s net proceeds to Random Acts just seemed like the perfect way to end this story.

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GIVEAWAY:

Erin A. Jensen will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter after the tour. To increase your chance of winning, leave a comment at a different stop on the tour each day. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway