Flower of Seshana

by S.J. Sanders

Alexandra Harrow signed on with Darvel Exploratory Corporation for one reason, and one reason only—for the opportunity to study native plants on alien worlds. She had not expected to spend her days stuck within the colony labs on M285 with no opportunities to catalog or study the diverse flora of the planet outside of specimens directly brought to her to determine their potential value to the corporation. If she wanted to study anything it meant slipping off on her own with basic, borrowed equipment. It had seemed like such a simple little adventure until the alien who fell on her whisked her away to a shrouded mountain with promises to show her plants like she had never seen. But life among the Vahel is more than flowers and moonlight. It promises a love like no other with two males who wish to lay claim to her heart and hold it forever.

This is a 31k novella in the same world as Serpents of the Abyss and Serpents of the Night (but preceeding them)

Genres: Science Fiction, Aliens

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2024

About the author

S.J. Sanders is a mom of two toddlers and one adult living in Anchorage, Alaska. She has a BA degree in History, but spends most of her free time painting, sculpting, doing odd bits of historical research, and writing. While she has more research orientated writing under another pen name, her passion is sci-fi and paranormal romance of which she is an avid reader. After years of tinkering with the idea, and making her own stories up in her head, S.J has began to seriously pursue writing as an author of Sci-fi Romance utilizing her interests in how cultures diversify and what they would look like on a extraterrestrial platform to humans interacting with them and finding love.

She can be found on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Author-SJ-Sa...

And follow her blog at https://sjsandersromance.wordpress.com

Reviews

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This was a cute novella with a semi-kidnapping and return to the Darvel universe. This is my fave universe because it’s so dystopian and accurate to what I think a corporation essentially ruling all would look like. Alexandra was intelligent and opened relatively quickly to the idea of being with Quillen and Kethan. Sweet story, would have liked more detail.

Spice: 2/5

Triggers: kidnapping, fall, death of parent, ostracism, corrupt corporation, mention of misogyny, hunting (off page)

[Brielle S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and Sweet

The story was very sweet, and loving about a human who essentially gets with two bat-snake aliens. There's a lot of love, an accepting community, and a beautiful little oasis type place with their cozy lifestyle. There's very little drama and very little action, and the spice level is quite low in my opinion. I feel like every one of this author's series are written differently, and I must say, I was intrigued by the snake bat men with two "parts" but the fact that most of the story was from the guy's perspective and wasn't that descriptive, nor did their two parts have any real purpose (I fail to see the point of having two if there is no DP), made it really low on the spice scale for me. And some may enjoy that, but lately I feel like everyone is just focused on the cozy aspect, which is good, but not if you don't attend the spice as well.

[꧁ᙏᗣᙃⱿꙆᗣ꧂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from the Darvel Exploratory Systems
If it is a novel in the same world as Serpents of the Abyss and Serpents of the Night and preceding the events in these volumes I assume that it could be part with the number 1.5 🤔
In any case, this is a great start to the new series
1. Flower of Seshena - ✅ 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Dweller of the Mists - ❌ Published March 15, 2025

Spin Off for The Darvel Exploratory Systems (5 book series) :
1. Classified Planet: Turongal - ✅ 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Serpents of the Abyss - ✅ 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Snows of Aturia - ✅ 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. The Frog Prince - ✅ 4.5 ⭐ stars from me for this surprisingly engaging novella 😉👍
5. Serpents of the Night - ✅ 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Happy end for Lori and her partners

[Adrianell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the novella.
Alexandra was a very dedicated botanist that wanted to do more than just stay in the lab and wait for a sample of flora to be brought for examination. So she slipped out of the colony and went spelunking in a nearby cave to find some plants to study. She didn't expect an alien to fell on her in there, but it was a great opportunity for her to hitch a ride and study flora around his place.
Kethan was a winged, serpent-tailed alien who was rather awkward, but also very sweet. When he met Alexandra he was fascinated and pretty much instantly wanted her for his mate. A little kidnapping was acceptable in his culture ;) It was one of the rare kidnappings that didn't piss me off, she wasn't a prisoner, but a cherished guest. Both Kethan and his brother from another mother Quillen that shared a nest with him were perfect gentlemen that tried their best to make Alexandra want to stay with them. They were sweet and caring, so our heroine fell for them pretty quickly ;)
It was great to see another part of Seshana and I loved how accepting Alexandra was of an alien culture and way of living.

[Awesome Sauce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited for this new series!

Ok, this book was so sweet and I love the Darvel world. I am looking forward to see if we will see more trouples or more from this series.

Looking forward to the next one!

[Roberta F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely Triad Lovestory

This book was very entertaining. The characters are entriqing and well developed. I really enjoyed their quest for happily ever after.

[The Grey Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, why choose one mate when you love them both😉
2×🌶

[Khristina Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!

S.J. Sanders always makes such wonderful works of art! I can never put down one of her books and this was not different.

[Gerri Blanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

Always can depend on a great book from S J Sanders! This was short story, great building of characters and alien planets. Sweet and humorous