I couldn't find an abstract, so here's an excerpt:
As a high school English teacher, I constantly witness the intensity of adolescence as young people start to explore their own identities. It is impossible to separate this time of teenagerdom from romance, since “adolescents are fascinated with developing sexuality and love” (Litton, 1994, p. 28). Even if they are not experiencing it first-hand, teens are hearing about it constantly from their friends, in school hallways, in the movies and tv shows they consume, and especially in the literature they read. Even the core texts in high school echo this desire for love; Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a key 9th grade text and begs the question: can teenagers really fall in love?
Teenagers are drawn to romance books and romance in books because the romantic symbols relate to their youthfulness and hope as Ken Donelson and Aileen Pace Nilsen explain in Literature for Today’s Young Adults (1993). The world can be heavy and depressing, so teens seek out light-hearted media as a counterbalance. They seek humor in social media and TV series, but also reach for romance as a valid and enticing entertainment source and as a way to figure out their own lives (Carpan, 2004). Romance books have held consistent sway in publishing because of the genre’s wish-fulfillment (Donelson and Nilsen, 1993). Romance is escapism and exploration in its purest form, but it can also teach, guide, and inform young minds.
I couldn't find an abstract, so here's an excerpt: