Second the vote for the adjustable Ride One Up, or possibly a bike using 9 PAS levels. I've heard that using PAS 1 of 9 often works a little better than PAS 1 of 5.
For those reasonably able and handy, maybe also worth mentioning is the fact there are aftermarket controllers with WAY MORE refinement than you see available with most of the rear hub equipped bikes. Not for the faint of heart, KT makes an inexpensive controller that's used with a display that allows you to adjust how much power you have when in PAS 1, along with a few more adjustments that really can change the bike. It's like comparing a computer with an inexpensive keyboard to one with a high end keyboard.....
My wife demands that her bike require some effort to move the pedals as well, and we arrived at the KT solution quite a while ago.