I've read pretty much every JM book, and one of the many reoccuring themes in JM books is the strong, older man who's jaded and the young, vital, and refreshingly innocent woman with whom he falls in love. Thankfully,there's little of that dymanic in this book. In the historical novels, I guess they had no other choice, but in her contemporary books such as Double Standards and Perfect, the heroines become these docile baby-makers. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her books. (My faves are Paradise, Perfect, and Something Wonderful, and I HATE Whitney my Love) But honestly, I do have a major problem with her contemporary books in that she introduces these secondary characters and EVERYONE has to have a happy ending. In Tender Triumph, the sole focus is on Ramon and Katie, as it should be. Katie does have a lot of preconceived notions about Ramon, but she's an ignorant woman, she's not deliberately being racist. Despite the fact that Ramon has so much pride I think he handles her ignorance pretty well! One thing I love about JM books is that when she gets the banter between the two characters right. Katie is always trying to make a joke out of things, and while they're hot and heavy, the couple does have a playful side. Katie's psychological issuses in my opinion, were really well represented and the whole handling of the situation, was really good and made the novel that much better. That David really did a number on her, and her reactions and actions when faced with marriage made a lot of sense to me. What I loved best was JM wrote a book where a woman kept her spirit until the end, she remained true to herself and her desire to contribute to his business, and to be independent, and a man, who's lost it all, and not too big to say when he's afraid.

Ciertamente no creo que esto sea lo mejor que Judith McNaught puede ofrecer. Hasta hace poco las malas críticas a este libro siempre me habían echado para atrás a la hora de adquirirlo aún a pesar de que me encanta la cultura latina y me parecía que Puerto Rico podía ser un magnífico y original escenario para ambientar la novela. Lo triste es, que después de leer la novela entiendo a qué se deben dichas críticas.

Por una parte, ella tiene demasiados prejuicios para ser de mi agrado y por si eso no fuese suficiente, le falta la inteligencia, el valor, la dulzura y simpatía que caracterizan a todas la protagonistas de J.M.

Y por otra parte Ramón no es mucho mejor protagonista. Un "perspicaz" hombre de negocios que levanta un imperio no puede ser tan ESTUPIDO como para ignorar lo que su padre estaba haciendo a sus espaldas ni como para olvidar que le adeudan 4 millones de dólares como si de 10 se tratasen ¡¡No estamos hablando de calderilla por Dios!! Quiere ser el hombre de la casa, le pide que abandone todo cuanto conoce (su trabajo, su hogar, su familia, amigos...) y le éxige que utilice solo el dinero que él y solo él le proporcione. Él éxige a su pareja total sinceridad y con toda la hipocresía del mundo le oculta que hasta hace poco era un multimillonario y que está trabajando para recuperar de nuevo su fortuna ¿Y cuál es su forma de retenerla a su lado? ¡Mantenerla en un constante estado de tensión sexual no satisfecha!

Yo, personalmente, soy incapaz de identificarme o sentir la más leve simpatía por un MACHISTA (con mayúsculas) y una tonta que consiente que la traten como tal y la ninguneen desde el principio.

Katie comes from rich parents and a comfortable life. She has a great job, an awesome apartment and loves being independent. Katie doesn't think there is anything missing in her life. One night she is rescued from an altercation with a former boyfriend. Her savior is Ramon, who Katie believes to be a poor farmer and a truck driver. Roman was once a very successful business man who's empire is in ruins, but he doesn't try to explain that to Katie. When he falls in love with her he asks her to marry him and return to Puerto Rico where even more obstacles to their marriage arise.

I can see how this could have been a good book, but it turned out not very impressive. I was very interested to see how the cultural differences would be portrayed. It's not written to be sensitive to the cultural issues, instead the book contains the characters' belief in stereotypes and social differences. I found both of the characters lacking appeal. Ramon is a chauvinist and Katie a brat. Ramon is beautiful, intelligent and a strong man. You really do feel bad for his business situation and hope for the best for him. It's just hard to understand his emotional connection with the heroine when the book isn't written with much from his perspective. I never grew to like Katie in this book. She was a real snob who I think really never saw the error in her thinking or behavior. The way she acts toward Ramon is truly embarrassing at times. She does have a traumatic event in her past to deal with but at times it seems like she's just reaching for an excuse not to be happy. All through the book, when its clear she doesn't even care for the hero, she creates unnecessary conflict and heartache for Ramon. She doesn't realize her love for Ramon until the very end of the book when its really too late for it to feel like a romance.

I'd read it cause it's a Judith McNaught, but not cause it's a great romance novel.

I agree with the critical reviews here. The hero is a chauvinistic sterotypical Latin lover. The heroine is a spoiled superficial materialistic brat. The message in the book is that strong independent females with challenging careers can never be fulfilled unless they are married, barefoot and pregnant.

Skip this one. Try "Perfect" much more enteraining read by Judith McNaught.

In the beginning there are clearly cultural differences where the protagonist shows her embarrassing ignorance and unintentional snobbiness to the point it got on my nerves. Through the first date to his stunning announcement, to the bizarre pool party night (what on earth was going on with all THAT?, and then to the awkward parent gathering. It was strange how different Ramon seemed in her presence versus how he was with his associate in the office at the book's opening.

The middle half gets even better as things progress, where she admits she has feelings for Ramon and tries to make it work, all the while subconsciously holding backing important parts of herself. Some of these just seemed silly, and I only sat back to wait for the explosion. The end was a disappointing wrap-up, though, bringing this review down a few notches. We don't get to see the scene where she sits down and explains an important element to Ramon. The reasoning behind her I love you avoidance was a bit silly and too forced a dramatic explanation, almost as if the author was searching too much. It's hard to believe Katie could be as clueless as she was with key points, I mean really!

I did not despise Tender Triumph like others, and instead found it hard to tear myself away. The plot was riddled with impracticalities, some of it over the top and too much, while others just didn't make a lick of sense. The ending didn't pay off a lot of built up suspense, and the romantic relationship itself won't be winning any awards. Still, it's not a bad book, though perhaps by McNaught terms.