Any good fantasy/Arthurian/romance book recommendations?

Hello, reading friends!

I’m getting back into reading after a 10 year hiatus (pretty much since uni) and I need some recommendations.

I love YA, romance, or fantasy novels (or any mix of the three!) but I’m finding it hard to differentiate between a book that’s popular because it’s legitimately fantastic and a book that’s popular… because of the sex. So I’ve had quite a few start and stops recently and it’s been frustrating me!

For example, (and don’t hate me for this, we all are allowed to have our likes and dislikes) I cannot stand ACOTAR. The writing is terrible, the characters unlikable, and I have no idea how it’s as popular as it is.

But I also really liked Fourth Wing. (Likely because the plot was actually well-executed from the get go even if there had been zero sex in it, frankly.)

I also adored Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows (reading the sequel now) and have started Mistborn and love it so far.

General “like” and “dislikes”:

LIKE: fast-paced, “chosen one”, “underdog” or “coming of age” tropes, not reliant on sex for the plot.
DISLIKE: really description-heavy books, unnecessary gratuitous violence or assault (i.e., “shock value” rape), books where the main emphasis is on the “spiciness”, whiny main characters.

So… anyone have any recommendations for romance, fantasy, and/or YA-style books set either in modern times or in the past? (I used to love Arthurian type books in high school and would love to try some good ones in that genre, too!)

by rbcl2015