In the world of self-publishing on the internet, reviews come in every form and fashion, from friends and relatives, to author swaps and pay as you go. Many authors will take them any way they can get them. Others are more "moral" and stick it out for the occasional honest review from an unknown reader. It's similar to professional sports during the steroid era. The need to "not fall behind the competition" weighs heavily against a player's "better judgement."
The problem with honesty in publishing is the same. Do I fall behind hoping "doing the right thing" will in the end prevail or am I simply being naive.
What hurdles will you face if you wait for legitimate reviews which could take months to accumulate? For one, there are many sites that will not list any eBooks without a minimum of ten or more reviews averaging over four stars. Some won't even list your free promo without that requirement. Secondly, readers will pit your eBook against others in the same genre with a higher "star" rating even if those reviews were tainted.
The only fair answer to all of this is to do away with reviews by the public since they are so easily manipulated by unscrupulous authors. This I'm afraid will never happen.
In conclusion, you need to decide if you want to play by the rules and be at a disadvantage, or join the crowd of unknown authors looking for a faster way to climb the sales ladder. To this day, I've had over two thousand downloads of my new eBooks but only four reviews. Two from the UK and two from God knows where. I've kept friends and family away since I do this more for a hobby in my retirement. If I was in search of a career, however, I just might be tempted to participate on a more level playing field. Good luck.