Character Dilemna

So, I am having my eyes opened to a great deal of new opinions on books now that I am spending time on message boards and blogs that have to do with writing and books. Actually, being around for the beginning of what I assume will be a Twilight type obsession with the Hunger Games series, I get to see what people think of it with the comparison to Twilight and without the jading of pop culture obsession yet. I don't know if that sentence even made sense to anyone but me. But anyway, I feel like audiences for YA novels today are getting cynical. There is a growing percentage of dissenting voices in the Peeta/Gale and Edward/Jacob debate. Much of what I have seen revolves around the fact that Peeta/Edward would be characters that would sacrifice themselves for someone that they loved. I don't see the problem, personally, as a mom I would freely give my life for my child or my little sister who I feel maternally toward, if the situation arose. But I see so many posts about how that is cheesy and stupid and a character flaw... The cynicism runs so deep! Whatever happened to epic romances like Romeo and Juliet? Of course there are better stories and books but romances have their place, too and they are what they are. It is not supposed to be entirely realistic- I mean, come on he's a VAMPIRE and for that matter, Hunger Games is a futuristic science FICTION story with a love angle to it. But I wonder if I should let it influence my writing and try to make my characters more what the audience would like. For now my opinion is that I let them be true to themselves and if I never get published then I never get published. But the cynicism really surprised me especially since the general audience for these books is so young. Theoretically the more hopeful ones.... Anyone else feel this way?