For anyone who didn't care for Star Trek: Picard, I recommend the Voyager relaunch novels as an antidote. Kirsten Beyer worked on both of them, but the novels came first, and she got to have free rein.
(Spoilers under the cut.)
Icheb lives, first of all. And he's got a boyfriend!
Seven evolves naturally. She keeps her formal speech pattern, but sounds a little more casual with her friends. She wears pantsuits - neat and professional, but not skintight - and when she needs comforting, she's got a cozy shawl her Aunt Irene gave her. No one turns my favourite nerd into a leather-jacket-wearing, bourbon-slinging outlaw for the sake of being cooler.
J/C is canon, and they actually talk about what's always bothered me - namely, that Kathryn always gets the last word in any argument because she outranks him. She still does, but they're working it out.
Harry Kim gets promoted and, as a lieutenant, becomes as kind and patient a mentor to nervous young ensigns as his seniors were to him.
The crew's families back on Earth have actual roles in the story. No one gets left behind waiting in a bar. (Laris deserves better.)
Tuvok gets a reunion with the entire Voyager senior crew.