I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

A solid continuation of the story. The main characters will make readers laugh as they are unwillingly drawn into adventures.

Now I have to hunt down the first book in this series because I loved this book. The Bland sisters are perfectly content with their bland life until one day their parents contact them and ask them to pick up their aunt at the train station. Reluctantly the girls go to pick her up only to be swept up by an extravagant woman who makes them board a train. The woman is not Aunt Shallot but rather Magique, a magician. Unfortunately Magique disappears and the Bland sisters, with the assistance of an over-the-top detective, decide to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

The Uncanny Express is a middle grade novel written by Kara LaReau and illustrated by Jen Hill. This is the second book in the Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters series. I was very excited about the opportunity to read this book with my girls because we enjoyed reading The Jolly Regina, which is the first book in the series.

After their pirate adventure in the first book, Jaundice and Kale are looking forward to returning to their bland lives sitting at home, darning socks, and eating cheese sandwiches. Their plans are thrown off-kilter when they are directed to go to the train station to meet their aunt, and inadvertently end up on a train speeding off to the Uncanny Valley.

Jaundice and Kale agree to help a glamorous magician and serve as her assistants, but then she disappears- even though the train never made any stops. Luckily, one of the other passengers on the train is the famous detective Hugo Fromage. Can he help solve the mystery of the missing magician?

My girls are in fifth grade and third grade, and they love reading books. They loved the pirate book, and they were looking forward to finding out what was going to happen to Jaundice and Kale. One of their favorite things about the first book was that each chapter began with a dictionary entry. They liked that this tradition continued, albeit in a new way. Each chapter began with an excerpt from the girls’ book of household tips or their magician’s manual.

This story is quirky and fun, and it is clearly a spoof of Murder on the Orient Express. That said, it did not hold my girls’ attention as much as the first book. I think, however, this is more a matter of personal preference. As an adult reader, I think the mystery was very well constructed, and there were some surprises that none of us saw coming.

I would recommend The Uncanny Valley. I do think that readers need to read The Jolly Regina before tackling this one. It provides valuable background information, as well as a sense of the girls’ general recalcitrance. The ending sets up a third book, and we’re certainly looking forward to what happens to the Bland sister next!

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Jaundice and Kale are (reluctantly) off on another adventure. This time, their (still absent) parents have arranged for the girls to meet their Aunt Shallot at the railroad station. Still recovering from their adventures of the first book, Kale and Jaundice are not ecstatic when the woman who shows up is a magician who immediately whisks them off onto the Uncanny Express. Magique (as she prefers to be called) is trying to break into the mainly male milieu of magicians. Her first show went horribly and she is heading to the Uncanny Valley to show what she can do. Unfortunately, after practicing her show on the train, Magique disappears. It is up to the two girls to help world famous detective, Hugo Fromage, solve the case of the missing magician.
A light play on the Orient Express that I quite enjoyed and I think kids will too. Definitely better than the first book.

Four stars
This book comes out January 9
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

The Uncanny Express is the second book in The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters series by Kara LaReau, and is currently scheduled for release on January 9 2018. The first book was The Jolly Regina, and while I almost always recommend reading a series in order, I think newcomers to this series will be able to pick up the story quickly.

Jaundice and Kale are back from their adventure on the high seas, and they are settling back into a quiet life in Dullsville, just the way they like it. The tea is tepid, the oatmeal is tasteless, and the socks are ripe for darning, until Aunt Shallot shows up and reveals herself to be anything but the dull relation they were expecting. Instead, she tells her nieces she is Magique, Queen of Magic, and she’s on her way to a big show and in need of two willing assistants. As Magique and the Bland sisters board the Uncanny Express, they meet a cast of mystifying characters. And when Magique goes missing, it’s up to Jaundice and Kale to solve the mystery—with the help of famous detective Hugo Fromage.

The Uncanny Express is the continuation of the story about two sisters whose parents are off adventuring. They prefer to hide away at home avoiding excitement and emotion, but their parents keep arranging adventures for them from afar. Here they are tricked into going off with a female magician and solving a mystery or two on a train. I love that while they drag their feet at every new thing and every emotion, they still keep moving forward and handle what ever comes their way. I liked the resilience that they show, and that while they might complain, they still do what ever needs to be done. I think it might be a good conversation starter for readers that are often reluctant to step up to lead or join in activities, to show that once you get started it gets easier- and they might just enjoy themselves. I know I was never a joiner or one to put myself out there as a kid, and most of the time once I was in the midst of the activity I would enjoy it. I will admit that certain aspects of the mystery I had guessed, but the delivery and journey was enjoyable.

The Uncanny Express is a fun adventure that I would love to get my son to read. It is fun, with moments of humor and irony that might go over the heads of some, but I found to be pretty perfect.

Jaundice and Kale are happiest when they are at home darning socks, tying knots, and cleaning. Their parents, who are off having an adventure, send them to meet their aunt at the train station. When Jaundice and Kale show up, they are whisked of on the Uncanny Express as assistants to a magician, an adventure their parents planned for them. Their adventure soon turns into a mystery. There's a lot of wordplay and Jaundice and Kale's over-the-top dullness is amusing. Jaundice and Kale may be bland, but their adventures are not. Fun, sweet read.

Having missed out on the Bland Sisters' first adventure, when they were kidnapped by pirates (though I will be seeking it out and reading it, now), I nevertheless was familiar with author Kara LaReau's work, having read and enjoyed The Infamous Ratsos (as well as have an ARC of the Ratsos sequel I need to finish). Here, LaReau channels a really cool combination of Lemony Snicket-meets-Agatha Christie, as Jaundice and Kale Bland are sent a mysterious letter by their world-traveling parents, asking them to meet their "Aunt Shallot" (whom they didn't even know existed, prior to the letter) at the train station, as she will be staying with them for awhile. Now, the Bland sisters totally live up to their name, spending their days drinking tepid tea and eating tasteless cheese sandwiches while indulging their obsessions (for Kale it's cleaning, while Jaundice loves tying knots). In other words, the last thing the sisters want is another adventure, which is why their lives are thrown out of whack when they meet up with their flamboyant aunt at the train station ... only to be led, instead, onto a departing train instead, with a woman who is actually the famous female magician, Magique! Now stuck on the moving Uncanny Express, things get even more complicated when Magique, disappears, and a flamboyant detective on-board (a terrific homage to Hercule Poirot worth reading the book for alone) offers to lead the girls in finding her. I loved this "kids" book, it's charming and amusing, with a bit of snark for the adults, and a fun story that - even if you see the end coming - is nevertheless a great ride getting there. Jen Hill's illustrations, just like with the Ratsos books, only add to the upbeat, lighthearted tone of the novel - which, naturally, hints of a book three to come by its end, that also seems to promise more development of the sisters as well as secrets (at last) to be revealed! 5/5 stars

Note: I received a free ARC of this title via NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

LaReau does it again with another series for children to fall in love with. The dichotomy of the Bland sisters and the adventures they have is absolutely wonderful. I couldn't put this mystery down and loved every minute. This is a series that I hope to see many more of and can't wait to share them with students. Kale and Jaundice and certain to become classroom favorites!

This is the second book for the Bland Sisters by Kara LaReau and illustrated by Jen Hill. Aimed at middle readers, this clever book is full of wordplay and puns which will also appeal to adults and would make a fine family read-together.

The writing is simple and often silly and uses the blandness of the unadventursome sisters (they love to eat cheese sandwiches on dry day old bread with flat soda whilst they darn other people's socks) to explore concepts of family, loyalty and going outside of our comfort zones.

The overarching story has Jaundice and Kale's (*snicker*) absentee parents sending them first on an adventure (The Jolly Regina - book 1 of the series) where they're captured by pirates and more, and then, just when they escape and think their world is safe for darning socks and deep cleaning the bathroom, they receive a mysterious note to go and meet their Aunt Shallot at the Dullsville train station.

I try to avoid comparing books or authors to other books (or authors) but the story itself reminds me in a lot of very good ways as a sort of Lemony Snickett and Roald Dahl mashup. There are so many fun mystery and adventure tropes that it's fun to try and identify them but that doesn't detract from the plotline or enjoyment of the mystery (on a train! with a collection of suspects!).

The art is nostalgic, rendered in pen and ink and adds a lot of depth and character to the book. Each of the chapter headings has a little drawing and quote from whichever book the sisters are reading at the time. The drawn panels and margin drawings comprise roughly 15-20% of the book and are all amusing and illustrate the story well.

Quite a lot of fun, with a decent amount of appeal to grown-ups as well (and the opposite of saccharine/sweet).

Four stars
Anticipated release date: 09 Jan 2018 from AbramsKIDS