The Watcher Series, Book One
Sometimes freedom has consequences.
Seventeen-year-old Aleria “Ali” Hayes thinks breaking up with her boyfriend is going to be the difficult part of her week. She is very, very wrong.
After harassment from her ex’s friends ends with a mysterious stranger stepping in, Ali is pulled toward someone she knows almost nothing about. Then a far more dangerous attack changes everything.
When she wakes, the world she knew is gone.
Vampires are real. So are other immortals. A secret organization called the Watchers has spent centuries trying to protect humanity from the things lurking in the shadows.
And somehow, Ali has landed directly in the middle of it all.
Now she has to figure out whom she can trust, what makes someone a monster, and whether fate is something we follow or something we can fight.
Welcome to the Shadow World
Ali’s life begins in a very ordinary place: school, friends, finals, coffee shops, and a breakup she knows was the right decision even when everyone around her seems determined to make her pay for it.
Then the impossible starts becoming real.
An old childhood friend returns carrying a secret of his own. A beautiful stranger is not what he appears to be. And the people protecting humanity have rules, histories, and moral compromises that are a little messier than Ali expected.
She quickly discovers that knowing who the monsters are is considerably easier than deciding what makes someone monstrous.
The novel moves from an ordinary Northern California teenage life into the hidden world of the Watchers, vampires, ancient identities, and supernatural conflict.
If You Like…
You may enjoy The Unintended if you like:
- Hidden supernatural worlds
- Dangerous vampires
- Secret societies
- Friendship and romance under impossible circumstances
- Mythology woven into contemporary fantasy
- Characters with questionable allegiances
- Literature embedded inside the story
- Fate versus free will
- Moral gray areas
- Snark when things really are not funny
Literature in The Unintended
Ali is a reader, so literature becomes one of the ways she makes sense of a world that has stopped making sense.
The Tempest is particularly important. Ali and Joshua choose Miranda and Ferdinand as their private codenames, borrowing the young lovers from Shakespeare’s play.
But Ali also uses literature to question what she sees.
She wonders whether The Tempest would feel different if Caliban were beautiful, an idea that echoes the contrast between outward beauty and inner character throughout the Watcher world.
Later, when the choices before her become increasingly grim, her thoughts turn to Romeo and Juliet, The Great Gatsby, and The Tempest as she tries to imagine whether her own story can possibly have a happy ending.
A few literary threads to watch for:
The Tempest
Love, monsters, appearances, control, and freedom.
The Great Gatsby
Idealized love, choices, and the danger of wanting a story to end differently than reality allows.
Romeo and Juliet
Love complicated by forces much larger than the people involved.
And hovering behind much of the series is the larger question:
Are we choosing our path, or are we simply discovering the path already laid out for us?
Fate, Choice & the Unintended
The title does more than describe an unexpected relationship.
Joshua tells Ali that he never intended for his supernatural life to touch hers. Ali answers by calling herself his “unintended.”
That idea runs throughout the book.
People make choices.
Those choices have consequences.
And sometimes the consequences become lives, relationships, loyalties, and conflicts no one intended to create.
By the end, Ali’s world has shifted from something that once appeared fairly black and white into what she describes as shades of gray.
Which raises another uncomfortable question:
Can doing the right thing still cause terrible consequences?
Meet Ali & Joshua
Aleria “Ali” Hayes wants her ordinary life back.
Joshua has spent years trying to keep his extraordinary life away from hers.
Neither plan survives very long.
Ali is stubborn, literary, fiercely loyal, and much too willing to put herself in danger. Joshua is protective, secretive, and convinced that what he is makes him dangerous to the people he loves.
Their relationship sits right at the heart of one of the novel’s biggest questions:
Does what you are determine who you are?
Book Club Discussion Questions
Spoiler Warning
The questions below are intended for readers who have finished The Unintended. Major plot points are discussed.
- Ali begins the novel by choosing to end a relationship even though that decision creates conflict in her life. How does that early choice establish the larger theme of free will versus fate?
- Joshua considers himself a monster because he is a vampire. Ali refuses to accept that definition. By the end of the novel, what do you think actually makes someone monstrous?
- The Watchers exist to protect humanity, but some of their methods trouble Ali. Did you trust the Watchers? Were there moments when their willingness to sacrifice individuals for a larger goal crossed a line for you?
- Ali agrees to become bait despite Joshua’s objections. Was she brave, reckless, self-sacrificing, or something else? Would your answer change if her plan had failed?
- Bowen begins as a threat, yet Ali gradually sees more complexity in him. When did your perception of Bowen begin to change, if it did?
- Ali repeatedly compares real events to literature. Why do you think stories become so important to her when her own life becomes frightening and unpredictable?
- Ali and Joshua choose Miranda and Ferdinand from The Tempest as their private identities. How does Shakespeare’s story illuminate their relationship? Where does the comparison break down?
- The novel repeatedly plays with the difference between appearance and character. Some frightening people prove capable of compassion, while beautiful characters can be dangerous. Which character challenged your first impression the most?
- By the end of the book, Ali realizes that her world is no longer divided neatly into black and white. What event do you think changed her worldview most?
- Joshua says that he never intended for his world to touch Ali. Ali responds by calling herself his “unintended.” What do you think the title means by the end of the novel?
- Several characters try to protect people they love by withholding information or making decisions for them. When does protection become control? Who handles that distinction best, and who handles it worst?
- The book asks whether fate may be stronger than free will. After finishing The Unintended, where do you stand? Do the characters appear to be making their own futures, fulfilling something already set in motion, or both?
One Last Question
Team fate or team free will?
No fighting.
Okay, perhaps a little fighting.
Continue the Story
Next: The Nexus
Ali knows the supernatural world exists now.
Unfortunately, knowing about it is only the beginning.
In The Nexus, her training with the Watchers begins as the French Coven devotes extraordinary resources to finding her, raising a much more troubling question:
What is it about Ali that everyone else seems to know before she does?
