Review: The Seduction Expert

The Seduction Expert by Saya Lopez Ortega
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The blurb of this book says, and I quote: "One of the most anticipated romance books of 2019."
And This.Is.Not.A.Romance. I'm sorry, you can't spin that one in any way. There is no love story., there is no main couple, and shockingly (not) there is not happy ending.
We don't even know the name of the main lead, she's self-referred at The Baroness and while she claims to be a seduction expert, she's just a narcissistic and selfish woman that puts down and looks down to all other women on her rise to the top of world and fame. I have zero problems with career-driven characters and I have always vouched for the needs of more unlikeable heroines that get happy endings because it goes against the fundamental vision that women have to be perfect to deserve love.
But this was not the case. This is written in first person PoV and she's so awful towards others that I had to put the book down several times because being in her head (and she's a bully, plain and simple) was incredibly triggering.
While executed decently (the author can write) I can't give this book other rating than this one. Please stop advertising this as a romance novel when it's nothing as such. It's deceitful to readers.

And finally, if you are going to set your story in Paris, do some research. The entire first few chapters are set on Monday, May 1st, as the main character goes to work, lunch, sees clients and gets a massage at the spa. I had to double check the date 4 times because I couldn't believe. May 1st is International Worker's Day, a holiday celebrated in over 100+ countries in the world and a simple google/wikipedia page will tell you that:
"In France, 1 May is a public holiday. It is, in fact, the only day of the year when employees are legally obliged to be given leave, save professions that cannot be interrupted due to their nature (such as workers in hospitals and public transport). Demonstrations and marches are a Labour Day tradition in France, where trade unions organize parades in major cities to defend workers' rights."
I can't honestly respect this book after that.
*I received an ARC copy on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

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