Side Effects

Special Ops Agent Rafe Silva has always been a dedicated soldier, content in the military and jetting from one mission to the next. Her life is structured and clear of emotional entanglements until an old friend requests she provide protection for an industry whistle blower.

Jana Elliott had found her ideal career and a second home within the corporate environment of Alumicor until a coworker dies and Jana suspects the company is covering up a deadly secret. When she starts investigating, her boss quickly shuts her down. Jana is determined to uncover the truth even if it means risking her life. Her friend’s suggestion of a bodyguard seems like overkill, but then Rafe Silva shows up and their irresistible attraction changes everything.

Lieutenant Jazz Perry finds a young girl wandering the downtown streets alone late at night. As the child becomes attached to her, Jazz is reminded of her own experiences in foster care and takes a personal interest even when she knows she should maintain professional distance. 

Social worker Emory Blake is good at her job helping children in challenging situations. She believes in the system and knows it works if you let it. When Jazz starts interfering in the case and bypassing the rules, Emory is torn between her responsibilities and an unwelcome attraction she can’t deny.

When on the job responsibilities collide with desires of the heart, becoming personally involved is the only choice.

Police Officer Grace Booker’s life is good—but not quite everything she'd hoped. When a good deed goes wrong, she’s left with Dirty Harry, a raucous African parrot who really hates her. When Harry becomes louder and more neurotic, Grace takes him to the new local vet, Dr. Dani Wingate.

Recently laid off from her dream job as a zoo veterinarian, Dr. Dani Wingate accepts a temporary position in tiny Pine Cone until she can get back to her life in the city. The only thing she wants more than a lesbian who can do uncomplicated relationships is a one-way ticket out of town.

Dirty Harry brings them together, but their unexpected attraction keeps the sparks flying.

Newly promoted police captain Bennett Carlyle considers being project manager for the new district substation the way to prove her worth in the male-dominated upper ranks of the department. But when the first girl she loved returns as the architect with little understanding of the operational needs of a police station, Bennett’s career and her heart could face permanent damage.  

Architect Kerstin Anthony believes the new police substation will be the springboard to her own firm and the necessary resources to care for her mother. When she confronts the girl she kissed in high school, now a tantalizing police officer with unrealistic expectations about the new facility, Kerstin’s path to success becomes littered with unexpected hurdles. Along with tight deadlines, budget restraints, and architectural challenges, she has to battle both past and present feelings for the woman she was torn away from years ago.

Freelance reporter Emma Ferguson’s assignment to write about a missing member of a local furniture royalty family turns into a murder when she talks to the only survivor of the founding family. While she tries to mine literary gold from the crumbs of a decades-old mystery, commitment-phobic Carter West seems more interested in maintaining the status quo, another puzzle Emma is eager to unravel.

Park ranger Carter West has been dedicated to her family and their close-knit community all her life, so when Emma Ferguson starts poking around in the past, Carter does whatever is necessary to maintain the life they’ve established—including keeping deadly secrets.

Detective Jordan Bishop is tasked with protecting Neela Sahjani, abortion doctor, stem-cell researcher, and member of the new conservative state government—a walking contradiction and a complication Jordan can't afford. When Neela seeks an emotional connection, Jordan tries to distract her from the darkness of her past with the only thing she has to offer—sex.

Neela is struggling to keep her job in an administration that no longer supports her vision while also caring for her aging mother and researching a cure for her mother's disease. The last thing she needs is a detached, risk-taking police officer looking over her shoulder.

Publishers Weekly says: "[A] touching contemporary tale of two wounded souls hoping to find lasting love and redemption together.…Powell ably plots a plausible and suspenseful story, leading readers to fall in love with the characters she’s created."