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Our Mamas Ourselves #2
Letting Go
Forced to move in with her mother, a man-hungry serial bride, after her husband dies, leaving her broke and homeless, fortysomething Ellen Jameson, her daughter Amber, and her granddaughter Jet, must come to terms with their new situation as they attempt to forge their own destinies..
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2003
21 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Morsi
61 books450 followersPamela Morsi was an American writer. She was the author of 29 romance novels, beginning in 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 5, 2009
This was a good multi-generational book. It follows the lives of 4 women and discusses how hard life can be, but that sometimes it's just our perception of life that holds us back. I really liked how the book believed that everything will work out for the best... even if it takes a while.
July 28, 2020
The story was fine but didn't move along enough for me.
July 28, 2025
**MINOR SPOILERS**
This is a standalone book but is listed on amazon as part of the Our Mamas, Ourselves duology. I think they are related by idea only. I have read and liked books by this author before. Some are better than others.
The story is about 4 generations of women who are living together. For the most part, I did not relate to any of them, except that I liked Jet.
Wilma is the grandmother and she has no regrets about how she has spent her life. She went from man to man and gave Ellen and her brother an insecure childhood. Wilma is suffering from emphysema and continues to smoke even though it is killing her. She decides to get to know Ellen’s boss in hopes that he is marriage material and that would help save them financially. Ellen does not know she is doing this and her boss, Max, is unaware of their relationship at first. Wilma helps out by taking care of Jet and genuinely cares about Ellen, Amber, and Jet.
Ellen’s life has been on a downhill slide since her husband died 5 years earlier. Not only because he died but because his cancer treatments were financially devastating. At the beginning of the book, she is moving in with her mother in a shabby part of San Antonio. Her daughter and granddaughter are moving with her. Ellen tries to be endlessly optimistic and she came across as unrealistic about it. It is something that her daughter, Amber, finds annoying and I did too. She had told her daughter before her father died, that everything would be fine and she believed that even after doctors and her husband tried to tell her differently. Ellen’s mother, Wilma, gets an eviction notice from her stepchildren and Ellen says that they don’t evict people in Texas.
She is a caring grandmother and a hard worker. She starts an interesting relationship with the neighborhood “crazy lady”. There is a surprise twist for how this part of the story ends.
Amber’s life took a turn when her father got sick. She was a good student headed for college. Her reaction to her father’s illness and death was to rebel against what life was throwing at her. She had a child as a teenager and did not finish high school, though later she got her GED. She has a dead end job and parties most nights and has meaningless sex often, sometimes under pressure to do so. She has a friend, Gwen, who is on the downhill slide in her life who wants to move in together and leave their children behind. This is something Amber considers. Part of this is Amber does not value herself and she is very lost, but it was sad that she had reached such a self destructive point. Amber has to come to terms with the fact that she can never go back to where she was, she can only go forward and she has to decide which way to do so.
A high school friend of Amber’s, Brent, reappears in her life when Wilma asks him for legal advice. Unrealistically, he begins watching Jet every lunch hour so that Wilma can see Max. It did not seem likely that he would do that as he had lost track of Amber years ago and he was not well acquainted with Wilma. However, he seems to be kindness personified and possibly attracted to Amber. However, Amber pushes him away with both hands (figuratively) and is not pleasant towards him. I thought this part of the story could have used a better wrap up.
Jet is Amber’s absolutely wonderful 3 year old daughter. She is sweet, smart, and energetic. She is the glue that holds the family together.
The book is told from Wilma, Ellen, and Amber’s points of view.
I read this book about 20 years after it was written. It felt dated only in minor ways.
Minor nitpick: their was used when they are (they’re) should have been.
I think this book was an interesting read as I think that it realistically conveyed the way some people think and behave. However, it was a bit of a slog to get through all the self destructive behavior and dysfunctional family and friend dynamics. The ending was a bit of a rush in my opinion. There was a lot of build up about the problems each was facing and then, boom, each story line was resolved.
The characters are well drawn, the dialogue is good, and the descriptions are at a good level of detail. It was a good book but could have been better.
This is a standalone book but is listed on amazon as part of the Our Mamas, Ourselves duology. I think they are related by idea only. I have read and liked books by this author before. Some are better than others.
The story is about 4 generations of women who are living together. For the most part, I did not relate to any of them, except that I liked Jet.
Wilma is the grandmother and she has no regrets about how she has spent her life. She went from man to man and gave Ellen and her brother an insecure childhood. Wilma is suffering from emphysema and continues to smoke even though it is killing her. She decides to get to know Ellen’s boss in hopes that he is marriage material and that would help save them financially. Ellen does not know she is doing this and her boss, Max, is unaware of their relationship at first. Wilma helps out by taking care of Jet and genuinely cares about Ellen, Amber, and Jet.
Ellen’s life has been on a downhill slide since her husband died 5 years earlier. Not only because he died but because his cancer treatments were financially devastating. At the beginning of the book, she is moving in with her mother in a shabby part of San Antonio. Her daughter and granddaughter are moving with her. Ellen tries to be endlessly optimistic and she came across as unrealistic about it. It is something that her daughter, Amber, finds annoying and I did too. She had told her daughter before her father died, that everything would be fine and she believed that even after doctors and her husband tried to tell her differently. Ellen’s mother, Wilma, gets an eviction notice from her stepchildren and Ellen says that they don’t evict people in Texas.
She is a caring grandmother and a hard worker. She starts an interesting relationship with the neighborhood “crazy lady”. There is a surprise twist for how this part of the story ends.
Amber’s life took a turn when her father got sick. She was a good student headed for college. Her reaction to her father’s illness and death was to rebel against what life was throwing at her. She had a child as a teenager and did not finish high school, though later she got her GED. She has a dead end job and parties most nights and has meaningless sex often, sometimes under pressure to do so. She has a friend, Gwen, who is on the downhill slide in her life who wants to move in together and leave their children behind. This is something Amber considers. Part of this is Amber does not value herself and she is very lost, but it was sad that she had reached such a self destructive point. Amber has to come to terms with the fact that she can never go back to where she was, she can only go forward and she has to decide which way to do so.
A high school friend of Amber’s, Brent, reappears in her life when Wilma asks him for legal advice. Unrealistically, he begins watching Jet every lunch hour so that Wilma can see Max. It did not seem likely that he would do that as he had lost track of Amber years ago and he was not well acquainted with Wilma. However, he seems to be kindness personified and possibly attracted to Amber. However, Amber pushes him away with both hands (figuratively) and is not pleasant towards him. I thought this part of the story could have used a better wrap up.
Jet is Amber’s absolutely wonderful 3 year old daughter. She is sweet, smart, and energetic. She is the glue that holds the family together.
The book is told from Wilma, Ellen, and Amber’s points of view.
I read this book about 20 years after it was written. It felt dated only in minor ways.
Minor nitpick: their was used when they are (they’re) should have been.
I think this book was an interesting read as I think that it realistically conveyed the way some people think and behave. However, it was a bit of a slog to get through all the self destructive behavior and dysfunctional family and friend dynamics. The ending was a bit of a rush in my opinion. There was a lot of build up about the problems each was facing and then, boom, each story line was resolved.
The characters are well drawn, the dialogue is good, and the descriptions are at a good level of detail. It was a good book but could have been better.
April 7, 2019
The story is different. It has one story about family but when you read further the story is about the three ladies in that family. Definitely a movie on it ll be good to watch. However, the book was still bland to me. I rated it three as i liked the storyline. It is a one time read.
October 1, 2022
A Hurricane Ian quick read. Sort of a realist’s romance. Not everyone get matched up in the end but the plot twists are very convenient in a romcom-like or Hallmark-movie way. The three main characters are more multi-faceted than those genres. If this were a movie, I’d go see it.
February 23, 2017
You never know the importance of the people you meet. That is the moral of this story. That and we are intertwined in one way, many ways and we are the only thing holding ourselves back.
November 9, 2020
It was an okay book about a woman, about 40, always looking for a man, her daughter, having to live with her mother.
November 18, 2020
Really easy read for the beach. Love these stories connecting generations of women.
August 6, 2012
Seriously women's fiction*esque since there wasn't a kiss in the whole book. Amber, the daughter, slept with someone but that was pretty gross. This was sad and hopeful and sensible all at the same time. Bad things happen to good people and whatca gonna do. I guess that was the theme. But underneath it all was a core of goodness and caring, with a few sprinkes of fairy-godmother, magic dust too. Everyone ends up with something more at the end of the book -- hardworking, downtrodden Ellen has a friend and a slightly brighter future, her daughter Amber is still working, still a single-mum but she's also back at school for the first time in 5 years and that guy she can't shake off: he definitely wants to be her boyfriend and he adores her daughter too. Little Jet is maybe a little too good to be true but when she asks her great-gram to stop smoking for her 4th birthday present, there's not a dry eye in the house. 4 1/2 stars.
September 6, 2016
This was only my third title by Pamela Morsi but it won't be such a long interval until the next one. Letting Go is a treasure not only as a story about 4 generations of women in the setting of San Antonio, TX but for the priceless thought-provoking life lessons that are shared through witty conversations and endearing moments.
It is extremely rare for me to read a book again as there are so many on my 'to read' bookshelf and so many on my 'wish list' to borrow or purchase but I'd definitely enjoy reading this one again. That's really the highest compliment any reader could give as a recommendation.
It is extremely rare for me to read a book again as there are so many on my 'to read' bookshelf and so many on my 'wish list' to borrow or purchase but I'd definitely enjoy reading this one again. That's really the highest compliment any reader could give as a recommendation.
April 22, 2011
It was an okay book. I tend not to like books that have a character in it like Ellen's daughter, Amber. That young woman needed a knock upside the head. Other than that, it was a pretty quick read.
September 13, 2011
I really liked this book. Unlike the fluffy Chick Lit I usually end up reading this had substance. The story was not based on sex or fast paced falling in love. I really liked the characters and thought Morsi created a scene I could visualize in my head.
February 4, 2013
This was nice book. About 3 women (great-grandmother, mother, daughter) surviving in New Orleans. Good story, happy ending, but not sappy. I'd never read this author before; I would read another of hers.
February 15, 2009
Entertaining easy read. Not too deep.
May 11, 2009
Just too predictably convenient. Men and money solve all their problems. Only one step up from a Harlequin, in my humble opinion.
June 24, 2012
This was a nice diversion from more "serious" fiction. Pamela Morsi's books always have casts of interesting characters and this one didn't dissappoint.
June 4, 2013
This was a little drawn out but a good book.
April 3, 2010
boring!
Want to read
December 29, 2018B door
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews