Loathe at First Sight

I recently read LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT by Suzanne Park, and I am confused.
 
This is definitely not your average rom com. The premise of this book is an enemies-to-lovers rom com in the notoriously sexist video game industry. We start off with our protagonist, Melody Joo, jumping in head first to find her way – all the while trying to keep an appealing (and off-limits) love interest at bay. 
 
Content warnings: misogyny and sexism including workplace sexual harassment, internet harassment, and doxxing. 
 
The pacing, along with Melody's ability to getting scrappy with limited resources, really worked for me. Melody was great at not taking herself too seriously and I loved how she stood up for herself instead of letting the relentless sexism get her down. (Although there was one scene involving salary negotiation that had my blood boiling.) 
 
Overall the romance took a backseat to the gaming, work-related plot, and I'd probably label this more contemporary women's fiction than romance. Given that the comps for this book are “fans of Jasmine Guillory and Sally Thorne,” you would likely expect more of a leading romance plot with gaming to be secondary. 
 
I spent a lot of time thinking about this book after I read it. Are publishers setting up #ownvoicebook debuts (in this case, adult debut) for failure because they don't know how to market them? While this book wasn't a slam-dunk for me, it's partly because the marketing for this book made me think it was a romance. With a less “coupled” cover, a slightly different blurb, and a different title, I might have felt very differently about the book because my expectations were set. 
 
There isn't anything quite like this book out there, and I think it's a useful book if you want to get a peek into toxic gaming culture. I'm just concerned that this book is going to be very hit or miss with readers because of the marketing misalignment. 
 
Thanks to the author, @avonbooks, and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this e-ARC.