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Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
In The Secret Observations of Liliana Joo by SC McQueen, let’s be clear about the term ‘yaoi’ for the sake of some readers who might have no clue about it. Yaoi is a Japanese term for ‘boys’ love’ or male-to-male romantic relationships. The yaoi genre is prevalent in the manga industry. The yaoi characters are usually young teens to adults, and the fans are usually young females. Protagonist Liliana Joo is one of them. When she starts to struggle with English and Physics, worrying that the problem might jeopardize her performance in the school play, she works out her tutorial schedules with Mr. Luke Hatton, the English Literature teacher, and Mr. Howard Seaside who teaches Physics. She is then able to focus on other things, such as Mr. Hatton and Mr. Seaside's relationship. There’s also another potential couple in her sight, the subject of Liliana’s secret ‘observations’.
It wasn’t easy for me to root for Liliana and see the world through her perspective. She is portrayed as a bright student, but also a hysterical drama queen. The reasons for her hysterical behavior make her worthy of readers’ empathy, though. Due to her emotional roller-coaster which resonates directly through the narrative, the plot climax doesn't seem like a climax at all. Oddly, despite the lead character being a drama queen, the sense of the melodramatic isn’t as intense as I expected it to be. On the whole, it’s somewhat chaotic and different but was still an entertaining read for me.
