The Hornet's Spell

by Rich Shapero

What transformations must we undergo to experience love fully?

Danni is twenty-six, fed up with dating and defeated by the power she perceives men wield over her. Still, she longs for true and abiding love, and so on the advice of a friend she seeks out the services of Raj, a hypnotist.

Raj weighs Danni’s predicament, then leads her into a spell. As he does, a strange humming accompanies his words. An extraordinary, winged creature—a hornet queen—has joined them, he tells her, and with the queen comes hope.

With the hornet’s help, Raj guides Danni into a series of spells: through unexpected inner landscapes where she faces off with a monster and a troubling incarnation of her teenage self. Gradually, she recognizes that Raj is more integral to her quest than she’d imagined—and the queen more potent—and together they soar toward an astonishing future in an unseen world.

With a flair for the uncanny, The Hornet’s Spell offers an erotic and philosophical imagining of our potential for romantic fulfillment.

Genres: Romance

109 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2025

About the author

Rich Shapero’s novels dare readers with giant metaphors, magnificent obsessions and potent ideas. His casts of idealistic lovers, laboring miners, and rebellious artists all rate ideas as paramount, more important than life itself. They traverse wild landscapes and visionary realms, imagining gods who in turn imagine them. Like the seekers themselves, readers grapple with revealing truths about human potential. All of his titles—Beneath Caaqi's Wings, Dissolve, Island Fruit Remedy, Balcony of Fog, Rin, Tongue and Dorner, Arms from the Sea, The Hope We Seek, Too Far and Wild Animus—are available in hardcover and as ebooks. They also combine music, visual art, animation and video in the TooFar Media app. Shapero spins provocative stories for the eyes, ears, and imagination.

Reviews

[Gansey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy reading this book.

It's relatively short, thankfully, but this is because Shapero trades clarity for brevity.

Where many chapters could be enhanced simply by describing how the protagonist is feeling or what her body is doing (ex. Is she anxious? Sweating? Is her heartbeat picking up? Is her breath caught in her throat?), Shapero gives us inane dialogue or an inner monologue.

Everything we know about Danni is surface-level. She's "attractive" (to who?), she's a working woman with a well-paying job (the specifics of which are never discovered other than it involving "technical drawings"), she has at least four friends (who aren't even good friends to her), owns her own home (with a balcony!), her father is dead, and men haven't been good to her in the past.

Opportunities for backstory or character depth are ignored, and Danni's character arc is practically nonexistent. She begins the book as a vain, self-centered woman and she ends the book as one. Sure, her "loneliness" has been "solved", and she uncovered some childhood issues, but her issues with men didn't end at her father dying. Surely her past relationships are more important than her childhood in that respect, but those men get a single chapter and her relationship with her father gets half the book.

Raj (or Robert), the love interest, is also shrouded in mystery. I don't mean that in a positive way. We know absolutely nothing about this man throughout the entire book except that he has a nice house (How? He's a hypno therapist. I can't imagine that he's making good money unless he's booked day in and day out or charging exorbitantly high), he once wanted to be Aladdin as a child, his mom is dead (more on this later), he's a good listener, and he's willing to violate the boundaries of a therapeutic relationship with his clients. Does he have hobbies? Who knows? Not the reader!

Re: Raj's dead mother; the hornet that features so prominently in the title and Danni's hypnotic trances is, in fact, the symbol of his dead mother's longing for him to have a good life full of love. Apparently, on the day of his mother's funeral, a hornet crawled out from under her shawl. Obviously, it was a sign from his mom and not a traumatic moment whatsoever. Also, this symbol of his mother's love takes an active role when he and Danni have sex while in said hypnotic trance and stings Danni all over her body (including her clitoris). So. There's that.

My issues with the terrible character building and fumbled attempts at symbolism aside, I take issue with *several* overtly racist parts in the book. It wasn't enough for Danni to make assumptions about Raj being middle eastern based on his name, no. Raj, himself, makes a joke about this, but Shapero doesn't stop there. About halfway through the book, Danni says, "I can't get past your name... You seem foreign to me. Unfamiliar, exotic-" Wow, what a landmine of a sentence! But wait, there's more!

In one of her sessions, Raj puts Danni in a hypnotic trance, and she travels to a desert, where she finds a village filled with a "tribe" of "primitive people." (Buckle up, it gets worse.) These people are naked. "Dusky-skinned and unwashed." They're in the middle of a celebration when Danni finds them, "making a terrible racket" and "mimic[king] animal poses." Then, they start having an orgy. This is the part where Shapero continues to compare them to animals, including oxen and apes(!). As if that wasn't enough, they're then described as "degenerate", "disheveled and grimy", and "desert lepers".

So... the only people of color described in detail in this book are 1) primitive, 2) unclean, 3) compared to animals, 4) beholden to their carnal desires, 5) degenerate, 6) disease-ridden. Anyone who has ever taken a history class can recognize how deeply, classically racist this is.

To wrap this review up, the only scenes that I can say were relatively well written were the scenes featuring her father and the sex scenes. I did not like this book for a myriad of reasons, and my only advice to anyone who has gotten this far in the review is: do not read this. It is not worth your time.

[Samantha✨ [reads everythinggggg] · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received The Hornet’s Spell by Rich Shapiro through a Goodreads giveaway. My copy also came with a signed poster, which I really appreciated — it was such a cool surprise to receive in the mail.

I honestly hate when I don’t enjoy a book, so I’m sad to say this, but this one was very difficult for me to connect with. It began in a way that made me think it was going to explore the relationship between a therapist and their patient, and while that is somewhat what happened, I still don’t know if they actually ended up together or not.

The metaphors in this book may work for some readers, but they went so far over my head that I often found myself confused. I think the main character was set free in some way by the end, but I still don’t fully understand why she saw what she did while under hypnosis or what certain imagery was meant to represent.

I really wish there had been an author’s note to provide some context or insight into the symbolism and themes, especially since the author seems to enjoy using broad, existential metaphors. I just didn’t quite grasp them here.

I will say that the writing itself and the vocabulary were strong, and I would be open to trying another book from this author to see if I connect more with their style. This one just may not have been the right fit for me. However, readers who enjoy heavy metaphor, abstract reality, and unconventional romance may find this book more compelling than I did.

[Hailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

racist. awful. boring.

received a free copy from a booth at a well respected literature festival (author wasn't there). seriously considering getting in touch and letting the festival know what kind of crap they're endorsing.

[Katrina Pine · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book made me extremely uncomfortable and very much feels like it was written by a sexually repressed man who has never asked a woman a deeper question than her favorite color.

the story itself is... intriguing, albeit heavy handed on metaphors so you're only about 70% sure of what's going on. I didn't like the strong ties that the main characters' parents have to the sexually charged nature of the book as a whole.

got in a giveaway, along with a signed poster which initially was really cool, but now just feels icky.

[Shyanne Huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5 ⭐️

Desire and self discovery play a role in this provocative awakening of Danni. She’s had the delusion of feeling trapped and powerless as a women, but underneath she had the power all along and she just needed to mentally free herself of the conception that only men carry the power and influence. Being young we are more carefree and don’t think about who has the power or who has the control in relationships. We just give in to the lust and desires and let go. As adults I think we tend to overthink, over analyze and be less trusting of everything which can sometimes blind us from whats underneath, from all basic human nature and tendencies which Danni seems to suffer from. Danni goes deep within herself through hypnosis with Raj. They journey together through her fears, her trauma and psychoanalyze every aspect of her “dream state” while under the hypnosis spell to discover why she is the way she is and why she has trouble with love. During the vulnerability of her sessions she develops feelings for Raj, but she questions whether they are true or if it’s because of the closeness they share during her sessions. She wonders if he feels the same. There is intimacy in being vulnerable, but there wasn’t a great deal of physical intimacy between characters.


The imagery while under the hornets spell is very artistic with a purpose, I just wish there was a little more explanation for certain things during the spell. The writing is smooth and flows throughout the entire book and the plot is complex and questioning. It drives you to hyper-focus on every detail being read, to even re read certain parts to grasp the underlying message being displayed by metaphors and character behavior. Some things could’ve been done differently or written differently, but it wasn’t a bad book. It’s just a book that might not be for everyone. I appreciated the free copy as it was a very interesting read and the author has a way with words!

[HALLOWGEN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another installment of Rich Shapero's strangely specific obsession with using insect metaphors that surround or transform a woman during sex. I can appreciate weird, but this is weird into abstraction, to the point where there is essentially no plot or setting outside of them. Ethics is also out the window for this therapist-client relationship, but the characters are so wooden that I don't care. Egregious racism is also present and pretty awful to read.

This sounds like a touch-starved straight white guy attempting to write a healthy representation of a woman's desires. Unfortunately, Shapero provides an even worse example of this than my middle school sex ed class. One of my favorite parts was that the main character (and everyone else) fail the Bechdel test.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to other Goodreads Reviews, I really enjoyed this read!
As the book states love really can be a metaphorical portal to another dimension. Think of "first loves" and if it was a positive experience for you it was transformative right?
Danni starts going to a hypnotist at the referral of a friend of hers. Her sessions with Dr Raj lead her onto a new realm of deeper healing & ultimately transformation in the area of love.
A quick engrossing read!
Thank you to Goodreads for the gifted copy.

[Lisbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to read this book very quick. I like how it started very quick with Danni, the patient, going to see the therapist, Raj. I found this story different compared to other stories because of its uniqueness. Raj being able to help his patient by introducing a spell where a hornet is symbolic since it helps Danni face her past to help her face her present. At first I thought that she was feeling love, but as I kept reading I saw it more as dependency. A great read for readers that love romance, and symbolism.

Thanks good reads giveaway for an interesting book.

[MMannequin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Hornet's Spell, Shapero creates an experience that vacillates between lingering melody and the sudden intrusion of a half-remembered dream. His writing in this book is imbued with a poetic sensibility that elevates the mundane to the mythic. Shapero's disquieting imagery often draws from the natural world, artfully flavored by the subconscious, pulling the reader into the protagonist's fractured reality. Well worth the read!

[Rachel Tenderenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won a copy via Goodreads giveaways.**

While I appreciated the philosophical dimensions of this book, the plot and characters felt lacking. There was no depth or development of the characters. The main character, Danni, is on a transformative path, yet it’s hard to walk that path with her as we have no way to relate to her journey. HOWEVER, I did enjoy the imagery and fantastical descriptions of the “spells” Danni was under.

[Jonathan Castillo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book for free at SXSW. There are typos, a constant pattern of describing things as "blank and blank, blank and blank, blank and blank," casual racism and sexism, dialogue that feels out of touch, and nothing feels fleshed out. The problems are unfounded and the romance doesn't ever feel real.

[Marveen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for this very different read. Yes, erotic but uncomfortably so due to the therapist's spell over you.

[Steven Ridgely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely weird read.

[Allison Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read! The plot was very different but also a typical plot line of a girl with daddy/relationship issues. But it is a poetic take on a very common issue.

[Madison Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the imagery was great, I was lost at times. I did not feel a connection to the characters and was confused with the plot. Wouldn’t recommend, but was a unique concept.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, not a fan. I can see why the ratings are lower on this one. It actually made me feel really gross reading it.

[Aubrey Watkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so freaking weird. I got it for free through a Goodreads giveaway and decided to read it on a whim. It’s a fictional romance philosophical kind of book and I do not typically read anything philosophical.

I kept thinking, “Do people actually do this kind of stuff?” I don’t care for the whole therapist falling for patient kind of thing but it gets weirder with the addition of the hornet and the spells.

Overall, I was intrigued and read it in only two reading session but I was mostly weirded out.