Lit Circle, Letter 3: The Hunger Games

Well I finished the book, absolutely amazing by the way, and still I'm craving for more. Of course the main character, Katniss, won the game not a surprise there, but the outcome was different from what I thought it would be. Not just one winner but two with Katniss and Peeta, with the help of the rules changing due to the audience loving to watch the "couple" in the game, and Katniss's sly plan to outwit the gamemakers. I'm surpraise on how the book ended, because I thought it would be something more tragic or romantic, like Peeta sacrificing his life to save Katniss. Instead, Katniss and Peeta both made it out as winners of this year hunger game. I'm reading the second book "Catching Fire" and everything is getting intense. The ending of the Hunger Game was great, and now another obstacle(second book) is in their way which is the president of the Capitol.
I read some of my Lit circle partners, and I do agree that Katniss seems to be falling in love with Peeta only a little bit. They did spend time together during the game only to fool the audience in order to survive. But I do think they began bonding with each other and knowing them more better. For sure Peeta loves Katniss, but she doesn't have that kind of feeling for Peeta. She might slowly begin to have feelings for him, but not now. The ending where Katniss told Peeta about not having that kind of feeling like Peeta does was a bit sad. After reading this book, I realized that Peeta is kind of useless in the game. The only thing he did was show his feeling toward Katniss and protected her like once. After that, he got himself injured and have to be taken care of for mostly the whole time. I don't mean that he should die, but I just want him to be useful and all.