I recently discovered Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, which I personally absolutely loved. This story focuses more on subtle interpersonal conflicts between the main character and the people in his life, as well as his interior perceptions of those around him. So definitely a more sedate kind of fantasy, but I think it works so well with Hobb's writing style. There is a romantic side plot in the first book, which I believe will continue to be expanded upon in future books in the series, but it's between teens and is more so about their maturity into adulthood and how that changes each other. And the worldbuilding I find to be different enough from a lot of modern fantasies (this book came out in the late 1990s) that I think it may scratch the itch for people who value fantasy in their fantasy.