I would love to hear what you think! In Chapter 2 which is out currently, there is flirting and heated looks/moments but not anything more major than that. As things progress, the different romances are differently paced depending on how the PC acts and the personalities of the NPCs. In it you’re an adult who can be in late 20s/30s/40s, and the love interests/friends are spread across those ages. You are working in a school setting but the kids are younger - 13 and 14 - and you can certainly eyeroll at their drama, heh.
Yeah, I lose interest if there isn’t a feeling of mutual something but I like it more if I’m choosing for the PC to pine and yearn rather than the narrative pushing the PC to feel that way no matter what. The proof will be in the proverbial pudding for HB! It is very helpful to hear about what people like and dislike about slower-paced romances. I find it a lot of fun if characters are both going “we mustn’t! but we can’t help having a lot of feelings about each other!” rather than it feeling more one-sided.
Recommendations here!
So, I would definitely recommend the ones from this post about romances which can be started early in the game.
Extra notes:
Heart of the House has two of my favourite romances ever, Dev (male) and Reaves (gender-selectable) with twists and turns plus being able to save each other and work together against creepy ghost magic. Tally Ho’s Haze can be a great partner in crime. Choice of the Deathless doesn’t have a huge emphasis on romance but you can have a great rivalry-turned-romance with Wakefield or a rivals-or-supportive-colleague relationship with Vega, both of whom are great characters.
I also enjoyed my romance in The Dragon and the Djinn (it was a gay male one, but I really liked Iskander as well, who can be romanced by women) - we were able to go on adventures and work together to solve the plot, and it felt very much like we cared about each other. Basically in all of them, and the ones in the link, I felt like an equal partner in a strong romance.