People calling this book boring or smut haven't read the entire thing, nor have they continued through the series. I'll admit it starts pretty slow. But you have to take it for what it is... buildup and backstory. The second half is the best and it just picks up through the series and is totally worth reading.
I would recommend it to people.
It's not just smut, in fact the actual s*x scenes in this book take up maybe... two pages max? There's innuendo scattered through a lot of it, but not as much as people make it out to be.
Don't just start it and give up, once you get into it, keep reading. You'll understand the appreciation for this book by the end. I promise