ym613: The first is probably also my favorite. 🙂
The romance in HP isn’t really what bugged me (it doesn’t really eat at the plot, and let’s face it, it’s pretty much unavoidable for books of the YA genre). I think it was as writersoul said, the lack of meaningful character development. Honestly my favorite characters are Snape and Aberforth (and of course TONKS ^_^). Also, I much preferred the simpler style of the novel. More complicated doesn’t make it better.
and if are annoyed by gratuitous romance then you probably shouldn’t see The Hunger Games through to the end. :/
and heyyyyy I love Lois Lowry! I read her when I was going through my dystopian phase (along with The Hunger Games trilogy, actually). Definitely superior to The Hunger Games, though.