After finally finishing up Ep 11, I can at least comment on some things.
I'm not crazy about Zoey, but I also don't get all the hate either.
She may be a meh character(just my opinion, if you like her, you do you)who was introduced fully after a good chunk of content, but she was introduced in Ep 3.(which is fairly early).
She always seemed to be someone who was intended as part of the story. And guess what - its not our story to tell.
I would give the Zoey hate more credence if she was a poorly written character, but shes not. Maybe you do or don't like her, and that's your preference, but I've seen poorly written characters in these AVN and shes not it(at least not yet. I assume a lot more story for her will be incoming.)
If there's a complaint to be had its more for underwritten characters, but if its just the side girls, well they are side girls. Somethings gotta give somewhere.
Also, I never understood the hate for strippers/prostitutes in AVN. Still people too(characters, semantics). If its so unsavory to you, just avoid the interactions where possible and push past it when you can't avoid.
For me, this game has a lot of characters who are well written(IE: don't make nonsensical decisions that the MC white knights them from themselves.)
Whether you like them or not, that's always your choice.