When the premise of a Great Gatsby-esque gothic novel with LGBTQ+ romance and poisonous revenge is presented to you, you don’t turn away. You allow yourself to be sucked into a world of elite hedonism and gently unfolding horror, on tenterhooks for the inevitable love tryst.

Indeed, there was little that could stop me reading the dark bourgeois fairytale that is Tripping Arcadia, which centres on a young med school drop-out named Lena who lands a well-paid job as an intern for the family doctor of one of the richest and most scandalous families in Boston. Morally, she wants to run for the hills, especially when she discovers the depth of depravity occurring at the family’s many drug-addled, orgiastic parties. But when she’s presented with her hefty bonus, she knows that it’s all she can do to stay working for this family and be able to provide for her near bankrupt parents. And now that she knows her own family’s tie to these secretive Verdeaus, she’s hellbent on revenge.

It has to be said, it is an elegantly written novel. Like a poison, the story creeps into your veins injecting discomfort and elements of horror on nearly every page. This is author Kit Mayquist’s gift. The characters feel real; flawed, but likable in their own ways. And there’s never a moment that elicits a cringe response, which is rare for such a dramatic tale.

The relationship between Lena and the rich and beautiful Audrey was compelling, and never gratuitous. And while I enjoyed the slow-burning mystery surrounding the plot, it was the moments of intense emotional expression that took my breath away the most. Jonathan’s pained screams. Audrey’s welling eyes. Lena’s nauseating panic.

On the other hand, Tripping Arcadia was rather lacking in subtlety, not to mention being over-dramatic in parts - a fact which wouldn’t have been a problem if other parts were starkly under-dramatic. For example, there’s far too much emphasis on Jonathan’s love of Marlowe and Keats. It’s meant to express his suicidal thoughts, but his attitude does that well enough without the morbid literary obsession that seems to inexplicably frighten everyone far more than his alcoholism. And when it comes to these elite parties, there’s very little truly debauched activity. We’re left a little underwhelmed by the conservative descriptions here. The very least I expected was a key party.

For most of the novel it always feels like we’re one step ahead of Lena; predicting outcomes and motives a few lines or pages before they dawn on her. This is frequently frustrating, not least because they often don’t need to be spelled out at all. It takes the edge off the mystery and doesn’t allow readers to work out much for themselves. Frankly, that’s half the fun of a mystery novel. Not that it sits comfortably in the realm of the “mystery” genre; it’s largely a gothic family drama with elements of, not full-scale horror, but certainly unease.

As for the denouement, it felt over-complicated and clunky. As twists go, it wasn’t bad, but it was far too explanatory, to the point of confusion, and it lacked the romance I expected. The dawning realisation that the reader should experience is rather masked by the labyrinthine task of putting together one-hundred-thirty-seven different plot points. I still don’t entirely understand the motives of all the characters.

Still, there’s no doubt the writing in Tripping Arcadia is stunning. We just wanted more. And also less.

“They’d poisoned themselves for decades. A trip was a trip, and whatever didn’t kill them made them invincible. They lived in their own heaven, their own arcadia, where nothing, not even death, could touch them. Nothing except for me.”

TW: Murder, class discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse, toxic family relationships

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Med school dropout Lena is desperate for a job, any job, to help her parents, who are approaching bankruptcy after her father was injured and laid off nearly simultaneously. So when she is offered a position, against all odds, working for one of Boston’s most elite families, the illustrious and secretive Verdeaus, she knows she must accept it—no matter how bizarre the interview or how vague the job description.

By day, she is assistant to the family doctor and his charge, Jonathan, the sickly, poetic, drunken heir to the family empire, who is as difficult as his illness is mysterious. By night, Lena discovers the more sinister side of the family, as she works overtime at their lavish parties, helping to hide their self-destructive tendencies . . . and trying not to fall for Jonathan’s alluring sister, Audrey. But when she stumbles upon the knowledge that the Verdeau patriarch is the one responsible for the ruin of her own family, Lena vows to get revenge—a poison-filled quest that leads her further into this hedonistic world than she ever bargained for, forcing her to decide how much—and who—she's willing to sacrifice for payback.
Release Date: 02/22/2022
Genre: Gothic thriller
Pages: -
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The tone of the book is good
• Lena is such a fun vigilante

What I Didn't Like:
• Boston accents for audiobook version
• Feels like it'll never end

Overall Thoughts: This book was odd in that it felt like it was coming from the feeling/perspective of being in the old days but being in the modern days. I felt like the parties took place of the times with the Roaring Twenties flappers and The Charleston. On that aspect I didn't care for that tone.

It seems so odd that this secretive and rich family didn't do a background check on Lena and see that she didn't really graduate college. A family like them would have definitely wanted to keep secrets to themselves and not just let a stranger in.

Honestly take a shot everytime the word "pills" is mentioned because it is too many times!

The book seems to go on and on and I was ready for it to be over with by a third of the way through the book.

Final Thoughts: The first part of this book was so good but I grew bored as I read on. I started dazing off. I dnfed this at 65%.

In this book we have Lena, a med school drop out try to help her family with the money problems that were a result of the layoff that her father suffered from at the hands of Martin Verdeau. When she is all of a sudden given a job to work for that same family that ruined her she jumps at the chance. While she is helping the sickly son, Johnathan she learns a lot of unsettling things about the family that include crazy parties where nothing is out of bounds when it comes to drinks and drugs.

I love the gothic and lavish atmosphere of the story and the obvious contrast that the author offers between the rich and poor characters. We are dancing between the life Lena knows so well in her town and the luxurious life that the Verdeau family are so used to. I love how the story slowly gives us a glimpse into the Verdeau's family drama and then slowly reveals the secrets that the family is trying to keep out of the prying eyes of the press and public. I found the detail that the author took to describe all the plants and poisons to be very intriguing. There was a found family element in this story that had me smiling and overall I loved the mystery and intrigue that had me guessing what was going to happen next.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton/NetGalley for the digital review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book had me hooked from the very first chapter!! What an absolutely wild ride. I never knew where I was going to end up.

Our heroine, Lena, was complex and funny and totally in over her head. When hired to be an assistant to a private doctor for a wealthy family, she finds herself sucked into a world of sex, drugs, corruption, and poison.

I wouldn’t miss this one, it’s weird, fabulous, dark as heck, and totally compelling.

Thanks netgalley for the copy!

A contemporary gothic novel with a mystery that slowly unfolds over time and offers a satisfying ending. I enjoyed watching the protagonist Lena grow and change from a medical school dropout assisting a doctor to almost a mad scientist/ botanists experimenting with poison to get revenge on the man who cost her father his job.

Decided to change this from a 4.5 to a big ol 5!

I absolutely loved this and I still think back to it and would love to do a re-read. This book was just the right amount of gothic atmosphere, crazy rich family drama, and horrifying end result. It covers hard topics with such ease that you find a part of yourself in almost all the characters and you end up rooting for them even though you hate rooting for them. I was also in love with all the plants and poison references. A few things got lost but I still felt like there was a nice tie up at the end and enough plot twists to keep me satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tripping Arcadia was on my most-anticipated list due to its description as Mexican Gothic meets The Great Gatsby (and the cover is stunning!). However, I was utterly underwhelmed.

I got strong Gatsby vibes, but Mexican Gothic was a big stretch. To be perfectly honest, I am still unclear as to how Tripping Arcadia can be considered "Gothic."

Perhaps it was the narrative choice of the narrator telling us the story from the present day, looking back on this time with the Verdeaus, but there was none of the atmosphere that one expects when reading a Gothic novel. I felt no dread at any point in the story. I also felt no connection to any of the characters. I couldn't understand why Lena leaps to the decision of killing Martin Verdeau after one party. Lena's devotion to Jonathan was bewildering, and I'm not a fan of insta-love, so I never really got behind Lena's obsession with Audrey. Again, perhaps it was the narrative choice, but there was a lot of telling and not a lot of emotion, and I just don't think you can call a novel with as little emotional investment as Tripping Arcadia a Gothic novel!

The reveal(s) were also anticlimactic and not fully explained. I was left with more questions than answers by novel's end.

A Luscious Modern Gothic

Lena Gereghty, a medical school dropout, returns to New York and her family after spending two wonderful years in Italy with her aunt, a medieval botanist. Lena’s family is on the verge of bankruptcy because of her father’s accident after being laid off. She must immediately got a job to cover not only her student loans, but to help the family survive.

Lena lands a job with the Verdeaux family, one of the richest in the city. Her duties involve being assistant to the family physician whose main job is to care for the sickly son, Jonathan, who also drinks copious amounts of red wine. She begins to suspect that things are not what they seem. Jonathan takes small black pills that look suspicious. There’s also Jonathan’s intriguing sister, who manages to distance herself from many of the goings-on in the mansion. Then there are the exotic parties at the family’s estate which show a dark side of the family and their friends.

If you enjoy dark, rather creepy Gothic set against a luxurious background, this is your book. The setting drips with wealth, over-the-top parties, and mystery. I thought the author did an excellent job creating the atmosphere.

The characters are not as well drawn as I would have liked. Lena is naive. She moves from courageously asserting herself get the job, to falling back into poor decisions. I thought her mother was a caricature. However, the story is plot driven and enough happens that you don’t get too involved with the characters. It’s a good read if you enjoy the genre.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist was exactly my type of book - the atmosphere, the decadence, the depravity, oh my! FIVE STARS for sure.

Synopsis from Penguin Random House:
"Med school dropout Lena is desperate for a job, any job, to help her parents, who are approaching bankruptcy after her father was injured and laid off nearly simultaneously. So when she is offered a position, against all odds, working for one of Boston’s most elite families, the illustrious and secretive Verdeaus, she knows she must accept it—no matter how bizarre the interview or how vague the job description.

By day, she is assistant to the family doctor and his charge, Jonathan, the sickly, poetic, drunken heir to the family empire, who is as difficult as his illness is mysterious. By night, Lena discovers the more sinister side of the family, as she works overtime at their lavish parties, helping to hide their self-destructive tendencies . . . and trying not to fall for Jonathan’s alluring sister, Audrey. But when she stumbles upon the knowledge that the Verdeau patriarch is the one responsible for the ruin of her own family, Lena vows to get revenge—a poison-filled quest that leads her further into this hedonistic world than she ever bargained for, forcing her to decide how much—and who—she’s willing to sacrifice for payback."

My thoughts:
What can I say, I'm a simp for rich people drama and any book with the word "gothic" in the description. I loved the lush writing style - beautiful and lyrical without being overly flowery. The atmosphere created through the writing and setting was evocative of the Victorian era mixed with the Jazz Age. Phenomenal! At times I would forget what decade we were in, because, while it is set in the present day and there are smart phones and other modern conveniences, they were so deftly woven into the atmosphere that the reader hardly notices them (other than the automobiles, of course).

Jonathan and Audrey are both "poor little rich kid" tragic Romantic figures, but I developed a complicated love for them and I was rooting for them throughout. Lena was a fantastic heroine, a little psychopathic and struggling with her own feelings about power and money, but I loved her for it. I loved the bisexuality and sapphic attraction, the "eat the rich" vibes, the botanical aspect, the little bits of Medieval history, and the witchiness of the potion making (and the name Saint's Fog, I mean...perfection!). Also, Aunt Clare sounds like someone I would for sure want to spend summers in Italy with. Right?!

I did get a little confused towards the ending when the overall reveal is being told, but I just reread those parts and took notes and it became clear. But I was a little lost for a bit.

I don't even know what else to say, other than that I had an amazing experience reading this and it was my third five star read of the year (out of 20 books). This novel definitely checks a lot of boxes for me, and gave me similar feels as Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Lote by Shola von Reinhold, and The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling, so I highly recommend those if you enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Penguin/Dutton and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. I will definitely be picking up a copy of this for my personal library.

If you liked The Secret History and things with dark academia/contemporary gothic vibes, this is your next new obsession.

A bi heroine! Medieval plants and poisons! Eccentric billionaires! Mysterious illness! Raging, hedonistic parties! Drugs! Revenge! F/F romance! All things you’ll find in Kit Mayquist’s incredible debut novel, Tripping Arcadia. Told in retrospective from the point of view of Lena, this book details her employment by the elite and mysterious Verdeau family and her increasingly complicated ties to the members of this family. Lena is a physician’s assistant, helping with the sickly and drunken heir to the estate, Jonathan, and finds herself also assisting in other ways during the family’s weekend drug-filled and outrageous parties in an old manor home in Massachusetts’s Berkshires. When she finds out that the reason for her family’s hardship has something to do with the Verdeaus, she plots revenge, no matter the consequences.

I absolutely love this novel. The characters are engaging, the prose is lush and beautiful, and the story is gripping in a way that made me want to keep reading long after I was supposed to be in bed. It has a ton of gothic tropes (labyrinthine houses and homoeroticism, anyone?) and I was immediately swept into the story. This is one that I’ll definitely be reading again.

This novel had everything I crave from a dark, gothic-inspired tale filled to the brim with twists and turns. Kit Mayquist has created a universe beyond compare. Pitched resembling Gatsby, this high-society tale of vengeance and passion pulls together tropes and themes from all kinds of works to weave something new and engrossing.

When Lena finds herself employed by on of the most powerful families around, she expects a certain level of secrecy and debauchery. But she does not expect to find a guilty party for her family’s most recent and pressing downfall. Determined to take a stand, and fight for those she loves, she devises a plan to end the reign of the rich. But, how can she accomplish this when the Verdeau siblings - charming, broken, and determined - need her more than anyone.

I adored this book, as I would with anything that combines medieval history, Homeric insults, queer love stories (with happy endings) and smart women with a bite. The prose is reminiscent of a modern American classic but its descriptions drip with the promised gothic gleam. The ending really seals it all together neatly, showing the readers that fast lives need slow moments, but the anger may never leave you.

In a story riddled with plants designed to poison and harm, they do nothing to outshine these unique characters who understand that in order to find a life worth living, you sometimes have to leave it all behind - whatever it takes.

Tripping Arcadia is touted as Mexican Gothic meets The Great Gatsby so I knew I was not in for a fast-paced page-turner but I hoped for something thought-provoking and unsettling. This book misses the mark but it’s still a strong debut by an author I’m looking forward to seeing progress.

TRIPPING ARCADIA is a gorgeous narrative, frequenting breaking the fourth wall to remind us that this is not a story, but overall a confession of crimes and secrets from our morally gray antihero. I thoroughly enjoyed the casual queer rep through Jonathan (bi), Audrey (lesbian), and Lena (bi) and how it never was used to create trauma, but rather as a part of their messy human natures. This story will have you reading frantically at 2am, simultaneously hoping that Lena poisons the villainous Martin and dreading her descent into fear-fueled theophany. Preorder your copy before it comes out on the 22nd!

What a fantastic debut novel from Kit Mayquist!

When Lena goes to work for the Verdeaus, one of Boston’s most elite families, it’s clear from the very beginning that she doesn’t know what she’s in for. From the bizarre and awkward interview to the unusual and often times confrontational encounters with the various members of the household, Lena soon learns that her position is not only to assistant the family doctor, but to harbor the families secrets as well.

After being told she would need to work overtime at their lavish evening soirées, Lena discovers the sinister side of the Verdeau family. To make matters worse, she learns that Martin Verdeau is responsible for her family’s ruin, and thus she devises a plan to get her revenge.

This truly was quite the page-turner, and I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic characters that made this story so enthralling. While Lena appeared to be the main character, it was Jonathon who, in my opinion, stole the show. He came across as this defiant, stubborn, and yet poetic drunk who had a bone to pick with everyone. But deep down, he was just a damaged soul caught in the crossfires of his family’s greed, and he suffered the physical and mental damage that came along with it.

Overall, I thought this was a captivating story, and I loved the modern Gothic vibes conveyed throughout the book. Definitely a must-read!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4555537436

Publishers really need to stop comparing books to The Great Gatsby just because there are some rich people throwing parties. Or maybe I just need to stop falling for it. I really like the premise of Tripping Arcadia - a young woman takes a job with a mysterious rich family who throws regular bacchanals. There’s plenty of spooky, gothic vibes and a somewhat compelling mystery (even if it's pretty obvious), but everything remains very surface level.

There is little to no character development, the writing is weak and there is too much padding. I think this concept would make a great short story - the problem is it was stretched into a novel without adding any more substance.

So while this was compared to Mexican Gothic, I feel like while this has vibes of secrecy, family secrets, and suspense, there are still a few key differences. That being said, I think Tripping Arcadia in its own way is a fabulous sapphic mystery/thriller. It's a book that is founded on the wealth inequity. On the fact that Lena is running out of options and so she must take this job to help her family. That throughout this mystery of elite parties, glittering vials, and candy colored drug cocktails, to Lena the money is a lifeline. It's a piece of power, of security, and becomes almost intoxicating.

The entirety of Tripping Arcadia has a reflective quality about it, like Lena is telling us the story afterwards. Not only did the first chapter entrance me with luscious writing that feels like silk on skin, top shelf liquor, and gold flakes, but also I was intrigued by this secret elite. To glimpsing this world of wealth, vastly different priorities, and money which slides against palms. I quickly became caught up in the mystery and world of Tripping Arcadia. Because I 100% supported Lena and my fascination with her character only grew.

What's wrong with Jonathan? This is a creepy atmospheric gothic for 2022. Lena, who learned about plants from her aunt after dropping out of medical school, lands a job as the assistant to the physician who care for Jonathan, the scion of the Verdeau family, which owns the conglomerate which employed then fired her father. What are the little black pills Jonathan takes? Lena is sucked into the orbit of the Verdeau family especially by Audrey, the daughter who is oh so intriguing. A debauched party in the the family home in the Berkshires leads Lena to decide that something must be done about Martin Verdeau- setting her off on a path to poison. This doesn't as you can surmise, doesn't go well. This is heavy on the atmospherics, enough so that you might be able to ignore some of the plot holes. The characters are pretty broadly drawn and in fact a bit of a weakness (Lena's mother in particular is unrealistic and Martin might as well be twirling a mustache), That said, the style is completely in keeping with older Gothics and I kept turning the pages. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers from me.

→ 3.5 stars

tripping arcadia is a gothic, mystery novel, following an interesting cast of characters with a plot that i, unfortunately, didn’t fully understand. i’ve been pondering between giving this book a 3 or a 4 stars rating because, on one hand, it was an enjoyable read and i had fun with it, but on the other hand, i seem to have missed the point. i went into this fully expecting unhinged characters and a “eat the rich” plot, but the story was a bit tamer than that.

the characters are part of what this book did right. especially lena and the pair of siblings – they were well flesh-out with distinct personalities and voices. i also liked the dynamics between them and the scenes involving lena and jonathan in particular. lena and audrey were an interesting pair, but i wished the book took a bit more time to fully develop their relationship, as everything was rushed. audrey was barely in the house for most of the first part of the story and yet lena instantly fell in love with her and i didn’t quite understand what this infatuation was based on.

while the book gives a great deal of attention to the character, the plot doesn’t feel as carefully planned. the pacing was off, with important scenes, like the parties, getting very little time. the mystery itself wasn’t very mysterious and the final plot twist came a bit too late, so the ending was abrupt. lena’s decision to get revenge came so soon, without any good planning and. i feel like she didn’t have a proper motive and acted brashly. after a couple chapters, however, she quickly changed her mind and went from absolutely despising audrey and jonathan to sympathizing with them without any good reason to do so.

for a good part of the book i thought this was supposed to be set in the past and then the main character mentioned linkedin and i completely lost it. this is fully on me, because the synopsis never specified the setting, but discovering that it’s a bit more modern than i expected was funny as hell. the writing doesn’t fit the time period this book is actually set in, as it’s written in an “old, victorian” style, but it’s not that big of a problem. regarding the style, it’s very purple-ish at times, to the point i kinda didn’t exactly get what some phrases were supposed to mean. but it somehow worked in the end – i got used to it after a few chapters and it didn’t bother me after that.

one thing that stood out to me the most was the atmosphere of the book. it’s got such an eerie, gothic, nothing-is-what-it-seems vibe, which enriched the story. i also adored the parts about poison and plants, they were very interesting to read.

all things considered, tripping arcadia is a stunning debut novel and i will definitely look forward to the author’s next works, even if this one was a bit lost on me. i can see other people loving it, because it’s a fun book.

A very uneven novel. Overwrought prose almost lost me out of the gate, but the plot twists and turns kept me from putting this one down. The ending wasn’t quite as satisfying or convincing as I hoped, but overall entertaining.

“A trip was a trip, and whatever didn’t kill them made them invincible. They lived in their own heaven, their own arcadia, where nothing, not even death, could touch them. Nothing except for me.”

Lena Gereghty is a medical school dropout. After spending a wonderful time in Italy with her Aunt Clara, she must look for employment to help out with her family’s finances. She is lucky to be hired by the rich and elite Verdeaus family of Boston, as an assistant to the family doctor. However, when she meets her patient, Jonathon, she is unsure what is actually wrong with him. Is Jonathan really sick? Or is he just a drunk? What is in the pills she must make sure he takes every day?

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels and I hoped that this book comparison would hold true. While this is not a retelling of the famous F. Scott Fitzgerald tale, it does contain many similar elements such as lavish over the top parties and a main character who spends the entire time lusting over a crush. The plot unfolds at a very slow place with many repetitive elements. Through party after party, we very slowly learn the reason Lena was hired by the Verdeaus family and what she must do to keep her job.

The plot revolves around poisons, poisonous plants, and poisonous drugs. Lots and lots of poison in this one!

I enjoyed the mystery, but found that it unfolded very slowly and was mostly disappointed in the confusing reveal. The denouement was also very wordy and difficult to follow. It would have been helpful if Mayquist spelled out his intentions more concisely for the reader. The twist was well played, but I ultimately felt like it was a long, strange “trip” to get there.

Overall, I was unfortunately underwhelmed by this debut. I understand what Mayquist sought to accomplish, but I don’t think that it was very successful.

2.5/5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC of Tripping Arcadia in exchange for an honest review.