The Dream Defenders Book Tour & Giveaway

The Dream Defenders by Neal DenHartog Genre: YA Fantasy

A vivid, dangerous dream world. Real-life consequences.

Better ready your defense.

When fourteen- year-old Nolan Erling wakes up with a headache for the fourth straight day, he suspects the likely culprit to be any number of things—from his annoying baby brother, to vehicular crashes with his elderly neighbor, or even his questionable late-night food choices—not his dreams. Aeryn Sandman knows the true cause, though. She is a junior agent with the DREAM Institute, a secret organization tasked with protecting the world’s population while they sleep, and she’s on her first assignment. Her mission: infiltrate Nolan’s life—and his dreams—and keep him safe, all while persuading him to join their protective force. But recruitment missions are no walk in the park, and Aeryn’s goes horribly wrong when Nolan’s powers unwittingly unleash two dream creatures locked away in a restricted area of the dream world. While Aeryn and Nolan search for ways to contain the escaped beings, they uncover a much greater conspiracy. For these dreams can kill, and someone is orchestrating their actions in the dream world. If Aeryn and Nolan can’t figure out who is behind it, no dreamer will be safe, and neither will the organization that defends them. Discover a book with a fresh voice, genuinely humorous characters, and a compelling, original storyline. The Dream Defenders will appeal to readers of all ages. ★★★★★ – “A spectacularly imaginative story.” – Indies Today **FREE July 29th – 31st!!** Goodreads * Amazon

Neal DenHartog was born, raised, and currently resides in Iowa. After a fifteen year career in the sciences he decided to rekindle his childhood passion for writing. Now, when he’s not donning a lab coat, he writes stories about dreams. Website * Facebook * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

“Then how do you explain that?” Nolan pointed to a spot in the ocean where the water
was churning and bubbling.
Aeryn squinted and put a hand to her brow to get a better look. A murky sheen rippled on
the surface of the water, like an octopus had expelled a cloud of ink. The inkiness failed to
disperse in the waves, though, instead coagulating and intensifying as it spread along the water.
The cloud shimmered and began to swirl around clockwise, forming an oily vortex that floated
purposefully toward Nolan and Aeryn.
“Did you do that?” she asked as the eddy creeped closer.
“It is my dream,” Nolan said. “Blame me, I guess.”
“Well, Dad did say you were special.”
Nolan wasn’t sure if she meant the good kind of special or the bad kind. Then two slimy
green heads with bulbous eyes rose to the surface of the whirlpool.
She probably meant the bad kind.
“Uh-oh,” Nolan said, as another head broke the surface and a trio of trident-wielding
frog-men emerged from the eddy. They stood taller than Nolan and Aeryn, their heads
undoubtedly amphibian, with angry yellow eyes. Their well-muscled torsos and arms were
distinctly human, the color of seaweed, and they gripped their weapons in earnest. Nolan
frowned at his own skinny biceps, feeling woefully inadequate. The frog-men marched toward
them on their all too human legs.
“What are those?” Aeryn cried in alarm.
“Now those, those are my fault.”
She glared at him menacingly, like she wanted to impale him with a trident too.
“Post-apocalyptic mutant frog-human hybrids.” He shrugged innocently. “With tridents.”

“What?”
Nolan scratched his head as they backed away from the new arrivals. “They were
following me earlier. Guess I should have warned you about them.”
Aeryn looked panicked. “They—they shouldn’t be here. They can’t be here!”
“Why not? It’s my dream,” Nolan said defiantly.
“No, it’s not! I told you, it’s limited. Ocean. Sand. Garden. House. That’s it. That’s all.”
Then her bright green eyes widened in realization, and she gazed at him appreciatively. “Wait.
You, you brought them here. You brought rovers here!”
Before she could explain to him what rovers were, a trident whizzed past her head,
missing by centimeters and blowing her hair back.
“Get back!” Nolan yelled, and he shoved her away as another trident sailed in between
them. This one grazed her fluttering sarong.
“We gotta go,” Aeryn told him as she clutched the covering in her hand. “The house. It
has an exit.”
Nolan didn’t question her.
They ran.
The two of them weaved between sand dunes, feet pounding out a path back to the beach
house. Nolan hoped the sea creatures’ legs hadn’t quite gotten accustomed to land yet, so they
could put some distance in between them. The dunes themselves offered some small protection,
enough to prevent further tridents from sailing at their heads.
After another minute they rounded the final dune to where the house should have been.
Aeryn let out a curse that shocked Nolan more than seeing those creatures climb from the water.
All with good reason, of course. There was no beach house.

“Language!” he chided her, although the curse seemed justified, given the garden now
covered the entire yard and enveloped every level of the deck. Root-like tendrils had tunneled up
out of the earth and wrapped themselves around the wooden structure. Dense, green leafy vines
meshed with the root system, forming a veritable wall of growth that completely sealed off
access to the beach house.
“Now what?” Nolan wondered aloud.
Aeryn shook her head, scowling. “We gotta go through it.” She hopped into the foliage
without hesitation, swatting lethal-looking brambles out of her way.
Nolan followed suit, trampling the brush underfoot and wincing with each step. Burrs and
thorns dug into his bare feet and tore at his arms, slowing him down more effectively than any
trident. If they didn’t uncover the exit soon, they would be sitting ducks for their pursuers. He
glanced behind them, scanning for bulbous eyes and pointy metal weapons.
“You said I made this garden, right?” Nolan shoved a rose bush aside, drawing blood.
“Yeah.” Aeryn’s breath came in gasps.
“Then I should be able to make it go away. Or, like, summon a machete or something.”
“You do that, then.” Aeryn grunted as she ripped a tangle of roots out of the ground and
tossed them aside.
“You keep acting like there are all these rules and limitations. In case you haven’t
noticed, I am the one dreaming. Anything’s possible.”
“Fine!” Aeryn snapped at him. “Make all this disappear, then!”
Eventually, they reached the deck of the house, or at least, where the deck should have
been. The wall of vegetation had not only wrapped around it, but it entirely encased the building.

Aeryn ripped at the plant matter, trying to pry the mesh apart, but it was woven together like a
suit of chain mail and didn’t budge.
Nolan wondered if he could merely close his eyes and will the vegetation away, but a
chorus of angry croaks interrupted his thoughts. The trio of frog-men had caught up to them, and
a troop of their closest friends spilled into the yard.
“Now would be good.” Aeryn gulped.
The creatures fanned out along the edges of the garden, wary of the strange mass of
vegetation. Had the garden been littered with lily pads, the creatures would have had no issue
hopping right across and introducing Nolan and Aeryn to the pointy end of their tridents.
“I’ll hold them off.” Aeryn stepped forward. “You focus on the wall.”
Nolan nearly protested. Shouldn’t he be the one protecting her? He was about to ask that
very question, when she reached out and plucked a flung trident out of the air from in front of his
face, saving his melon from an unfortunate ending. Without missing a beat, she flipped it over in
her hands and heaved it right back at the now empty-handed creature. It embedded itself in its
chest with a sickening thud, knocking the mutant off its spindly man-legs.
Okay, scratch that, Nolan thought. She could be his protector.

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