I can’t say that I romantically love Peeta Mellark, that would be ridiculous. But I do want to dedicate the rest of my life to ensuring that he never feels any pain and is sheltered from all evil in the world. I don’t know why this is the case. I read the book and appreciated Peeta as the baker’s son who risked physical injury to give Katniss some burnt bread. He seemed like a nice guy, but he didn’t even manage to be my frontrunner in the Peeta-Katniss-Gale love triangle. He was just a dude in the story until Josh Hutcherson was able to dig his finely-manicured claws into the character. I had never understood the infatuation with non-threatening, good looking male leads until now. And let me tell you, I get it.