Rating: 
Summary: KEEP AWAY!!!
Review: All of JM's book have made my stomach tingles w/ excitment and lasting pleasures b/c the characters and the plot are so smoothly entwine that you actually feel them and want to be part of their lives. Yet this one was truly disappointing b/c the plot makes no sense. The characters are not all what you think. Ramon is a male chauvinist who expects his girl to obey him w/o a thought of her own while Katie's happy thoughts are on materialistic stuff. I give her a star b/c all her other books are truly amazing whereas this one was her very first novel.
Rating:
Summary: Tender Triumph not so Triumphant
Review: As an avid and loyal reader of JM's books, there are many things I have come to expect from her stories; strong characters with whom the reader may relate and an interesting and captivating story that is difficult to forget. To my sheer horror, the story of Ramon and Kate was utterly forgettable, having none of the usual characteristics of Mrs. McNaught's novels that delight and entrance the reader. Both Ramon and Kate were arrogant and I found the idea of a harmonious union between these two characters unrealistic. Kate lacked the wit of other heroines, though the constant reminders of her beauty try to distract the reader from this flaw. Ramon was a pale copy of Jordan Townsende, Jason Fielding or any other of JM's male characters. Overall a disappointing piece from an otherwise excellent author.
Rating: 
Summary: Cut the hero some slack!!
Review: Despite what a majority of the reviews have declared, I rather liked this book. I agree that it certainly isn't one of JM's best, but it still (to use the horrible cliche) "pulled at my heart strings" and "left me sighing" at the end. One has to understand that Ramon, the hero of the novel, is a product of his culture and beliefs. I found him to be rather endearing, and certainly extremely proud and quite arrogant in some instances, but honestly, have you read a romance novel yet where the "alpha male" isn't all those things and more? He did not resort to rape, or any sort of physical abuse that involved "spanking" (ridiculous for any author to even consider demeaning their heroines in this way...I HATE rape and spanking scenes). In many ways, Judith McNaught explained Ramon's culturally "archaic" beliefs in terms of their cultural perspectives, and a lot of it, to me, made sense, and cooled my indignant feminist outrage. If anyone has ever taken an anthropology course in college or university, they (as I) would recognize that these types of beliefs still exist in this world (sometimes even more extreme than what JM portrays) and that these beliefs and cultural morals have less to do with archaic "sexist" ideals, and more to do with the anthropological history of the culture.That having been said, I would also like to point out that Katie, the heroine of this tale, was an extremely irritating spoiled brat, although she had her shining moments, what few they were. I don't know WHAT Ramon saw in her, other than a leggy blonde, but on the whole, the book worked for me in the end. I would have given this book five stars, but for the sad lack of hoochie (although there was a lot of making out) I have to remove one star...i mean c'mon! how can you not include a steamy latin love scene?? ;o)
Rating:
Summary: Cut the hero some slack!!
Review: Despite what a majority of the reviews have declared, I rather liked this book. I agree that it certainly isn't one of JM's best, but it still (to use the horrible cliche) "pulled at my heart strings" and "left me sighing" at the end. One has to understand that Ramon, the hero of the novel, is a product of his culture and beliefs. I found him to be rather endearing, and certainly extremely proud and quite arrogant in some instances, but honestly, have you read a romance novel yet where the "alpha male" isn't all those things and more? He did not resort to rape, or any sort of physical abuse that involved "spanking" (ridiculous for any author to even consider demeaning their heroines in this way...I HATE rape and spanking scenes). In many ways, Judith McNaught explained Ramon's culturally "archaic" beliefs in terms of their cultural perspectives, and a lot of it, to me, made sense, and cooled my indignant feminist outrage. If anyone has ever taken an anthropology course in college or university, they (as I) would recognize that these types of beliefs still exist in this world (sometimes even more extreme than what JM portrays) and that these beliefs and cultural morals have less to do with archaic "sexist" ideals, and more to do with the anthropological history of the culture. That having been said, I would also like to point out that Katie, the heroine of this tale, was an extremely irritating spoiled brat, although she had her shining moments, what few they were. I don't know WHAT Ramon saw in her, other than a leggy blonde, but on the whole, the book worked for me in the end. I would have given this book five stars, but for the sad lack of hoochie (although there was a lot of making out) I have to remove one star...i mean c'mon! how can you not include a steamy latin love scene?? ;o)
Rating:
Summary: Tender Triumph
Review: don't get me wrong. i am a huge fan of McNaught's books. This book... i couldn't even finish reading it. i read a couple of chapters to know that i didn't like it. it's too obsessed, that's scary. the leading lady, i felt that, she needed more back bone, while the guy needed to be locked away. you don't feel any kind of connection with the charcters at all. this book lacks the magic of the author. not worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Please don't let this turn you off to other great JM books
Review: I am an avid reader of Judith McNaught and greatly admire allof her other books. However, "Tender Triumph" made me closeit several times just the check the cover and make sure JM had really written it. From the first 15 pages, it was easy to see the book would be a failure. Katie proved to be not only racist but very shallow and self-involved. She automatically assumes that because Ramon has a Spanish accent that he is poor, uneducated, and not worth her consideration. Judith tries to make her character redeemable by having Katie apologize after each and every one of her numerous catty and sometimes vicious remarks but I just don't buy it. Katie remarks that many of her well-to-do friends are 'shallow' when she is the very embodiment of the word. Finally, when explanations are made as to why Katie is so very unaccepting of Ramon's love, it seems to be too late and still doesn't excuse her racist and classist remarks. Ramon is also a total flop of a character. He falls in love with her on the first day because he sees her 'inner light' that sets her apart from her friends'? Please. All she has done is insult and degrade him. I wanted to shake him at one point and say, "Can you really be this pathetic?" Throughout the entire book I kept waiting for the characters to become more real, more believable, and more loveable. In JM's other works, you come to love her characters and live the love story with them but no connections were made between the reader and these characters. All I can ask is, "What happened, Ms. McNaught?" Please, if you had the misfortune to read this book first, don't get the wrong impression. JM is a fabulous writer. I suggest starting out with "Kingdom of Dreams" and if you aren't just clutching your sides with laughter at the line 'Forty is *this* many' and then sighing at the love between Royce and Jenny a few chapters later, I shall say no more to convince you. And if you are into more contemporary works, I *highly* recommend "Paradise". Read them. I promise you it will be worth the time, effort, and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitive and boring
Review: I don't know about anyone else, but I got really sick and tired of hearing about Katie's red gold hair and blue eyes. The author didn't waste any opportunity to mention those particular attributes. It was as if the author was repetitively trying to describe how beautiful Katie was to make up for the fact that she was shallow, bigoted and snobby. She assumed that the hero, Ramon, drove the dumpy produce truck she saw on the street because he had a spanish accent and she continously treated like he was a stupid, uneducated moron throughout the book. And Ramon was no better. He decides that he loves her because she insults some guys in a singles bar even after she insults and offends him throughout the whole book. The overall book was boring and I started hoping that they would not end up together.
Rating: 
Summary: Runt of the litter
Review: I enjoy Judith McNaught's books, but this was a disappointment. The story is weak, the characters are hard to believe, and the book is SHORT! It almost appears as if the book was written to fulfil some publishing agreement.
Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic story and heroin does not deserve the hero!
Review: I gave this 2 stars only for Ramon's sake. I didn't like Kate at all. Seemed too uptight and a little stuck on herself. I liked Ramon becuase he seemed so devoted and loyal (too bad she didn't seem deserving!). The plot seemed too far fetched (going from multi-milionare to being a dirt poor farmer then back to multi-milionare overnight was just way too unrealistic). And the entire story takes place in three weeks! If I can't believe a story could possibly happen in real life, I can't enjoy the story. I find that all of Judith McNaught's stories that take place in modern times seem ridiculously unrealistic and end up being dissapointing, but her historical tales, (from mid-evil times like A Kingdom of Dreams) are much much better (you can use more imagination there I suppose to make up for the unrealistic things).
Rating:
Summary: A Poor Showing
Review: I generally LOVE Judith McNaught books so I could not believe how much I disliked this one. The characters are not at all likable the heroine is a spoiled brat that goes out of her way to be obnoxious and the hero not only puts up with her garbage but looks the other way. I had a hard time finishing the story since the whole concept of these to unlikely people falling in love was just to much of a stretch. If you have never read McNaught I would recommend you read a different book by her such as "Something Wonderful" or "Once and Always" in order to see what a great Mcnaught book is like. Not everyone will agree with this review but I must say JM could have done much better.
|
