Love Stories

I am not reviewing a book called Love Stories; I am simply expressing my thoughts on the role of romance in the modern day youth novels.

The way I see it, when we were young, the guys and the girls read the same amount.  But as we matured, so did the books we read.  Soon it becomes difficult to find a novel that does not include romance.  At this point, girls tend to keep reading, but most guys stop reading and search for other hobbies (video games, etc.).  This is what happened to me, that is until 2008 when my English teacher made everyone read this novel for a novel study.  That novel is what renewed my faith in youth novels and stories that involve romance.

The novel we read is a brand new novel called The Hunger Games.  That is when I realized that a story involving love is not a love story, and that romance can be really important in the plot of a good story.  So, that is when I started becoming a fan of reading, but the more I read the more I wondered, why does 95% of youth novel involve romance?

There is no universal answer to that question, but I believe that the authors of young adult novels are always looking for a way to connect with the audience, to find something they can relate to and the only thing almost every teenager has experienced is love (to some extent).

That is why such novels like Twilight have become so popular (I mean, it can’t be because of the plot, or literature…). The only problem with novels involving love is that sometimes the author focuses more on that one emotion than they do on the plot or theme.  That creates a cheesy love story that should not be read by anyone (I’m thinking of one that’s starts with “T”…)

But all in all, guys experience feelings of love too, so there are obviously love stories for guys too.  And I believe that teenage guys should read more (so I don’t feel like a loner).