The Time Travel Trailer

By: Karen Musser Nortman

Narrated by: Valerie Gilbert

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A 1937 vintage camper trailer half hidden in weeds catches Lynne McBriar's eye when she is visiting an elderly friend, Ben. Ben eagerly sells it to her and she just as eagerly embarks on a restoration. But after each remodel, sleeping in the trailer lands Lynne and her daughter Dinah in a previous decade - exciting, yet frightening. Glimpses of their home town and ancestors 50 or 60 years earlier is exciting and also offers some clues to the mystery of Ben's lost love. But when Dinah makes a trip on her own, separating herself from her mother by decades, Lynne has never known such fear. It is a trip that may upset the future if Lynne and her estranged husband can't team up to bring their daughter back.

©2014 Karen Musser Nortman (P)2016 Karen Musser Nortman

A charming time-traveler story

This is a light and entertaining story. The main characters are a mother and her teenage daughter. In order to do some bunding with her daughter, mom buys a traveling wager. Little did she know it is a time machine.

I like that this book is covering a few historical times. It describes changes in places, culture, language, views, and behaviors. I t has a suspense moment each time they travel, which makes this book even more exciting.

The narrator was amazing. She had to do so many different voices and cover a different range of ages. She helped make this book even more exciting to listen to.

This has a lot to recommend it!

What made the experience of listening to The Time Travel Trailer the most enjoyable?

The nostalgia factor. Escaping back to when things were supposedly so much simpler snd better. Valerie Gilbert's narration fit this book very well.

What did you like best about this story?

This was written by Karen Musser Nortman who is / was a History teacher. She brings back each era or decade with descriptions of dress, speech and important social events. Very enjoyable!

What does Valerie Gilbert bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Valerie Gilbert's narration is exceptional. Not over the top, like some narrators. Her work did NOT detract attention from the story. A positive!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nostalgic. Whether it was a simpler time, I can't say. I recall turmoil in each of the decades visited by the characters. the Depression, Civil Rights, etc. I'm sure that families today face similar challenges. I saw mention in another review that this was a YA book. And it is appropriate to that audiences, but it should appeal to adults too.

Any additional comments?

This was a very entertaining work, with characters and settings that involved the reader. To me the gist to the story allowed a family to reconnect in a,strong way.Thank you for allowing me to listen and review this audio book.This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com

Promising

This was a fun listen. It took some time to get rolling and there was a lot of repeat scenario's along the way, but it sets the stage for an interesting series. Lynne figures out pretty quickly what the trailer does and what makes it work. Dinah accepts it fairly easily and has a teenager's sense of adventure about it. Lynne's husband has a harder time...until it's proven to him. I love that Lynne is a natural helper and also has enough curiosity to figure things out and understand just how to help the elderly friend who sold her the trailer.

The time periods selected were fascinating as well because they highlighted the times well. The cold war and fear of communism in the early 60's, the pride and fear of what the neighbors will think in the 30's. The approach that had to be taken to extract themselves from each period differed by the fears that motivated people at the time.

I enjoyed listening to Valerie Gilbert's narration. She performed both male and female voices well and kept the story moving seamlessly.

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

More cozy than Sci-Fi & slightly boring

I've read a lot of sci-fi and quite a few time travel books so I suppose I had expectations that this would be similar. It wasn't. It had more the feel of a cozy mystery, although there wasn't much mystery, either. You don't travel back to witness any important historical events, no one is trying to manipulate time for their own purposes and there is no alternate timeline. Not much excitement to be had, really. It wasn't bad and I didn't dislike it, but it did fall short of what I'd hoped. I would like the author to have spent more time on the whole "why" of this trailer traveling through time, which I think would have been more interesting than the main mother/daughter story. I finished the story mainly to find out why. Instead, it was simply explained away in a sentence or two at the very end. That was disappointing. The narrator was good, though.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com."

Camping with a twist

Any additional comments?

The synopsis of the story tells you everything you need to know about the story except that it is a really good, clean, fun, enjoyable and entertaining time travel story.

What a travel trailer! Really liked the fact that the story takes to you to different time periods based on undoing the "upgrades" that were done to the trailer.

Following Lynne and Dinah through their discovery of the trailers mystery's to their adventures while camping is a fun afternoon listen.

Believable characters and believable situations for each time period.

Valerie Gilbert did a great job with the narration. Nice voice, easy on the ears. Great job with the different character voices. Her narration made the characters come to life.

This audiobook was provided by author, narrator or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom

So enjoyable, and so believeable!

I have had this little book in my wish list since it came out a couple of years ago. When my credits became available I passed over it because it was a short little thing, and I like to get my money's worth! In the eighteen years I have been an Audible listener, I have listened to some VERY entertaining pieces mixed in with a whole lot of crap. I used to write many reviews, but now I just star rate everything as soon as I finish it, and if it's not that bad, I give a 3 star across the board. For me, a 5-star has to go above an beyond my expectations...AND THIS ONE DID!

First off, I liked the narrator. I could really relate to her.. With clear precision she cut the author's words right into my heart. I am a mother, I have angst for my children, I was a wife, and I was a single mother.

The story unfolds quickly which is always nice and before you know it, you are gripped with fear (and loathing for the bratty kid who happens to be the ancestor of the kid) and you listen with amazement as Dinah gets deeper and deeper into trouble.
I was up till 4 AM with this little mild-mannered trailer yarn, and I am not going to wait another three years for the sequel... It's here now, and I have a credit to spend., :)

Refreshing

a very refreshing time travel Tale filled with interesting characters and a strong story very worth the time to listen to or read

TheTime Travel Trailer

This was a very unique time travel book.Imagine going to sleep in your refurbished camper only to wake up in another time at that same location!It left me with a lot of 'what ifs'.I loved it and can not wait to get the next in the series. Valerie Gilbert is great with the narration.I was given this book free for an honest review.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dina...

This is not the usual type of book I listen to but I am a sucker for time travel. There is something mysterious, yet interesting about going back in time. I knew right from the reference of Rachel and Ross in Friends in the first chapter that I was going to love this one. The author does a great job using time appropriate references as well as giving shout outs to many of the more notable, trend setting time travel books. It is the simple yet defining things that make this book special and the author definitely did some research. One of the things that caught my attention to the detail the author used was the mention of the fact that presently FDR is on the dime but not back then... The author does an excellent and believable teenage female character. In fact, all the characters were well written and likeable. This is a wholesome, interesting and humorous time travel stories. The narration was well done and the voices were distinguishable. The emotion and sarcasm was there as well. This was a surprising story for me and a well liked book. I received a free copy from the narrator, author or publisher in exchange for an honest review via Audiobook Boom.

Camping this weekend, anyone?

Any additional comments?

What a fun young adult listen! It held the usual of a teenager’s life in modern times in a small town, but mixed with time travel it was both entertaining and educational. We learn just how society and culture condition how we respond to events.

Dinah is the typical fourteen-year-old—curious and a bit snappy when things don’t go her way and very sarcastic when she’s ticked off. She isn’t happy about her mom and dad’s separation. Nor is she happy about how much time her mom spends with her career.

Lynne, Dinah’s mom, feels the gap between her daughter and herself. She knows part of it is because of the separation from Dinah’s dad, but it’s also what happens to teenagers as they experience the pangs of growing up, coming to terms with who they are.

When her mom buys a trailer from one of the neighbors and starts stripping away the many coats of paint, changes of flooring, etc., she gets involved in the transformation. Lynne decides the trailer may bring her daughter and her closer by taking some weekends for camping. And if not, it would make a great work office. But reader, this is not just a trailer, but one with secrets. Would you be willing to sleep in a trailer and wake up somewhere else not knowing if you could return home again? Lynne and Dinah had very adventurous souls and it was a pleasure to join them as they discovered that which came before them!

Usually my time travel book reads go back to the highlands or medieval times. This one is recent history, which makes it enticingly readable. We come to understand how events shaped people’s lives during the late 1930’s through 1960’s. The author had to have done some thorough research to get the ever changing dialog slang and clothing correct during these periods.

Narrator Valerie Gilbert does what she does best. Her voice has a smooth charm about it and she’s able to handle different accents fluidly. She’s outstanding with sarcasm and bored dialogue. For this listen, she’s perfect! I loved how absolutely authentic Dinah’s sarcasm and annoyance with life shone through Ms. Gilbert’s voice.

I liked this book so much, I want to read the second in the series, Trailer on the Fly.