Rating: 4/5 stars

Leigh Somerset's family vacation turns into a spine-chilling adventure in "Nightmare of a Trip" by Maureen Kilmer. The story follows the Somersets as they embark on a road trip from suburban Milwaukee to Orlando, Florida, seeking quality family time and adventure. However, their journey takes an unexpected turn when they stumble upon an abandoned farmhouse in Indiana, unleashing a series of eerie events that haunt them throughout their trip.

Kilmer expertly crafts a blend of family bonding and supernatural elements, keeping readers on the edge of their seats with each twist and turn. The characters are relatable, especially Leigh Somerset, who strives to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst the escalating paranormal occurrences. The author's vivid descriptions transport readers to each location, from creepy indoor waterparks to haunted Cracker Barrels, heightening the sense of unease and suspense.

The pacing is brisk, ensuring that the narrative never loses momentum. Kilmer skillfully balances moments of tension with lighthearted family interactions, creating a dynamic and engaging story. As the Somersets navigate through the unknown, readers are kept guessing until the very end, wondering if they will escape the clutches of the supernatural or succumb to the "highway to hell."

"Nightmare of a Trip" is a captivating blend of horror and family drama, perfect for fans of eerie road trip tales. Kilmer's adept storytelling and memorable characters make this novel a thrilling read from start to finish.

Big thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

National Lampoon's Horror Movie! This novel had you giggling right into being horrified! The best mix of horror and comedy I've read all year.

This was such a charming way of talking about all that parents- particularly mothers- take on and protect their children from on a daily basis. It hits deep, as a mom. Even the ghost mom, she wanted her story told and her sacrifices seen..... that said, I flew through this book. It's a gem of a novel dipped in the paranormal and sprinkled with incredibly realistic mama-children interactions. This is one for all mothers, no matter what that looks like for you, individually. Definitely will be recommending this one to anyone who will listen!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive this arc as I loved Suburban Hell. While Suburban Hell is still my favorite, I really enjoyed this one as well.

I liked that the story took place on their road trip to Florida. I thought it was a fun and the family's dynamic was very relatable. This story definitely revolved more on their bond and Leigh realizing she can do anything as long as she has her family versus it being more horror comedy, so definitely don't expect horror. It was more of a cozy read of a family road trip with supernatural bumps in the road.

I still recommend picking this up and this would be a fun read during the summer and fall time.

If you’re expecting a horror story, Nightmare of a Trip isn’t for you. If you want a cozy, cute supernatural story, this book is for you. It follows a family as they embark on a family road trip from Minnesota to Florida and the other worldly events that happen along the way.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this early!

This is my third Maureen book, as I have been with her since Suburban Hell, and I am incredibly grateful to once again be reading another one of her books.

The story itself was very humorous, and the chemistry between the main couple was one of my favorites. The kids weren't my favorite, but that may be a personal preference over me not liking children in stories. I fell in love with the main character, and was rooting for her the entire time, just as her other stories. It was fun to experience the road trip and the things they went through. However, this story did push on a bit for me. Which is a shame, because I have never felt this way about a Maureen story before.

It lacks scariness. The confrontations with the spirits are lacking. The story, however, is cozy and calming to read. It's light for a beginner horror reader.

I want to personally thank NetGalley, as well as the author, publisher, and anyone else involved in providing copies, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Reviews will also be submitted to Goodreads when possible.

When the unexplained is left unexplained are my thoughts on this one. I had high hopes for this unique story of a haunted family road trip. The scary parts weren't exactly scary and just happened and ignored immediately after. There were some comedic aspects that ended up being the best written parts. The ending had so much build-up and then just happened without exactly explaining the reasons. The characters were fun, if a bit one-dimensional. Overall, this was an okay read, and I give it three stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam, for this ARC.

After reading and loving 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍, I was eager to read everything else this author wrote. I didn't like her next book as much, and this one I believe suffers from a case of an ineffective and misleading blurb.

When I read "a horror tinged 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝑽𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, I was ON it and so excited to read. Until I realized there was no horror. And then I realized there were no comedic moments.

I wanted to love this book so much, but I didn't. I'm holding out hope that her next one will be the winner! Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the early read. This title will publish September 10, 2024.

When the Somerset family heads out on a road trip from Wisconsin to Florida, mom Leigh expects plenty of bumps along the way – but even she doesn’t expect to be haunted by ghosts after a strange incident at an abandoned house.

My family has always been big on road trips, and consequently I have spent days driving down endless roads in both the United States and India. You see plenty of road trips on television and in books, but rarely the family caravan type. Here it is reproduced with all its humor, stickiness, and hair-pulling between siblings.

This is a light-hearted, somewhat episodic story which mixes all the usual family road trip vacation cliches with all the cliche horror movie cliches and makes its hay with the stark contrast between the two. There’s plenty of moments with humor that work all the better because of how realistic they feel, and I enjoyed reading the tight-knit bond between the whole family. The sequences with the “Tooth Fairy” and the maternity leggings made me crack up.

However, I did think the story wandered somewhat, maybe because the ghosts weren’t very clear with their hauntings about what on earth they wanted from the Somersets. As such it takes a long time for the plot, slight as it is, to come together. While I enjoyed the paranormal happenings in the story, I wished the ghost storyline had had more of an impact and a payoff at the end of the story than what we got.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

A humorous and engaging story, however the scary underlying storyline never completely comes to fruition, after the big build-up.

Also, the main character who fears the various apparitions throughout the entire novel does an "about face" at the very end. After waiting through 98% of the story, for a confrontation, I don't know that the experience (over in a few final pages - the ending felt rushed) lived up to the built-up expectations.

However, if you are looking for a mildly distracting "cute" feel-good, lightweight "family-oriented" read, look no further.

I'm sorry, but “a horror-tinged National Lampoon's Vacation this is not, no matter what the blurb says. I didn't hate it, but it's not particularly funny and it's definitely not scary. It just kind of … is.

So first, the good: the premise is outstanding. Who doesn't want to read about a haunted road trip? I mean, I guess pretty much any road trip that requires sitting in a minivan with family members for a double-digit number of hours can be considered “haunted” in an “I am going to be haunted by this trip for the rest of my days” sort of way, but I don't mean like that. There are actually ghosts and stuff.

There are also a few funny bits. Not a lot of them, but I might've chuckled once or twice.

And, yeah, that's all I've got. I've been sitting here for twenty minutes trying to come up with something else that I particularly enjoyed about this book and I just can't. Sorry, Maureen Kilmer. So I guess that brings us to the lackluster bits …

For starters, it just isn't scary. Every “horror-tinged” scene is so brief and superficial that you just kind of don't care. A ghost throws things around for a page and then the Somerset family gets in the car and eats some snacks. A ghost pulls a blanket off of one of them while they're sleeping and then everyone's back in the car headed to the next destination. The main character has a vision of something disturbing and then they go play in a water park. There's no building sense of dread and even the very small bits of “scary” are surrounded by lots of mundane family vacation scenes. Perhaps these scenes are supposed to be funny, but they mostly just fell flat for me.

And, for all of the same reasons that this book isn't scary, it also isn't very exciting. See above.

I also don't really understand the point of the haunting. I can't really give a whole lot of details without spoiling things, but let's just say that the ghosts put a lot of unnecessary energy into getting Leigh's attention. The things that happen could have happened at the beginning of the trip and that would have been that, no haunting needed. Why even attempt to scare anyone? The ghostly Vickery family has apparently never heard that phrase about “catching more flies with honey than vinegar …” They probably could have just asked nicely and achieved the same results.

With all of that said, this novel is … okay. There's no real horror and only small amounts of comedy, but it is kind of vaguely interesting at times, I guess? And the premise really is fantastic even if it falls flat in execution.

My overall rating: 2.55 stars, rounded up. I really wish that Goodreads allowed half stars because a 2.5 feels much more appropriate than a 3.0, but it is what it is, I suppose.

Many thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

Ok this was an interesting book. Definitely a good beginner horror book. Horror is not my favorite genre normally but I wanted to check this out and I’m glad I did. It was fun!

3.5 stars

This was a nice little cozy horror. I think it’s meant to be horror, it doesn’t really fall into a specific genre, more of light on everything kind of book.
A lot of relatable characters and situations. I enjoyed the humor, and I look forward to more by Kilmer in the future.

Also (not part of my review, just a large opinion), I’m in love with this cover art!

Normally I like the formula of [blank] but make it horror.

The issue I have with "Nightmare of a Trip" is a small one but it makes a world of difference.

The property that's being horror-ified and referenced in the Book blurb existing in the world of the book detracts from the dark comedy. We as readers get the picture already, direct references to National Lampoon does nothing but reassert what readers should already know.

As for scares? Seasoned horror fans won't find anything too inovative here, but this is a good place to begin for a first-time horror reader.

People who've experienced some awful road trips will 100% find at least one relatable instance throughout the book. I for one found several, my reactions ranging from uncomfortable recollections to "ha- we did that too".

The family dynamic especially the "been in a car together for days" variety is absolutely spot-on.

The epilogue is also pretty wholesome but the trip to get there is rough. Not scary enough to be a nightmare but not sweet enough to be a daydream either.