I actually didn't like the books either - I must confess the character Dr Magnanti portrayed did seem funny and intelligent, but she just didn't seem all that nice. From what I recall she took on the 'I'm one of those women who all other women are insanely jealous' kinda moto. I'm a sucker for sisterliness.
There was one bit of the book where she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, but rather than confront/ dump him, she continues to obsess over his emails, and grate on about how ugly (I can't remember the words she used) the other girl was, who it would seem had no idea of her existence.
I mean, good for the good Dr for putting her story out there (and I think the books are more, by far, 'realistic' than the programmes which are a good deal jazzed up - although I found I like her 'character' better ) but unlike the popular press I didn't feel that the actual prostitution element was the book's biggest issue in term of female character portrayal.