Skitty the Great

Why does there always have to be a love story?  I have read several “teen” books, and I do mean SEVERAL.  As far as I can tell, some of the best story telling comes from the Teen section of the book store.  However…and beware, there may be spoilers here…I find that almost every single one of them is bogged down by an unnecessary love plot.

The Hunger Games is a perfect example.  I love this book so much that it hurts.  I can’t even watch the trailer for the film without getting teared up.  And yet I find myself cringing when I think of the love story plot line.  It’s not that I have anything against Peeta, it’s just that…what was the point?  As a plot in the games themselves, it was effective, but I don’t understand why we had to sit through several days worth of unnecessary cuddling in a cave followed by way too many pages of mixes emotions in the following books.  It did not drive the action, it did not add to the action, it did nothing but weaken Katniss’s position as an awesome Buffy-esque ass kicker because, in the end, her survival was tied to a boy.

So now I start looking through my To Read file and I see awesome stories.  There’s one in there about interstellar travel where a girl wakes up from hyper sleep some 15 years before she and her family are supposed to arrive at their destination because someone, or something has tried to kill her and she has to find out why, before it harms anyone else.  Awesome, right?  Except that when you get to the second half the synopsis, she runs into a boy who could mean her death if she trusts him (dun dun dun) and yet she can’t help but feel drawn to him.  Why?  Why does there have to be a love story?  Another one is about two sisters who are werewolf hunters, kind of a modern telling of Red Riding Hood mixed with Ginger Snaps.  Only, in the second half of the synopsis what do I find again?  A man has come between them and makes one sister turn away from the other.  Why?  Why do they all have this meaningless love story?

Help me internet.  Tell me of a teen book without a superfluous love story.  I’ll take either a book where the romance has actual depth and is not of the “strangely attracted to this intense, quiet boy I know nothing about” variety or a book from the Teen section with no love interest whatsoever.  It’s a challenge, but I know you won’t let me down.