She’s a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock is a sharp and unflinching satire, chronicling the obsessive, and often unsettling, journey of Jessamyn St. Germain, a struggling actress desperate for her moment in the spotlight. Set amidst the claustrophobic world of a small Vancouver theatre, Jessamyn is convinced she is destined to play Maria in The Sound of Music. Though relegated to babysitting the young actors playing the von Trapp children, she rationalises her position as part of a grand plan—the director’s subtle way of keeping her close to the role she believes is rightfully hers.

Hambrock paints an incisive and darkly funny portrait of Jessamyn’s delusions and desperation, skilfully critiquing the patriarchal systems that feed her ambition and erode her sense of reality. The narrative’s tone is relentless and claustrophobic, capturing Jessamyn’s spiral as she sacrifices her physical and emotional well-being for a dream that increasingly feels out of reach.

The internal dialogue is particularly striking, drenched in theatre jargon and rationalisations that reflect Jessamyn’s disturbed state of mind. While some may find this deeply melancholic or even depressing, others will appreciate its raw honesty and the compelling examination of a character who teeters on the edge of self-destruction. Comparisons to Black Swan feel apt, as this is less a story of triumph and more a harrowing exploration of ambition gone awry.

The ending is ambiguous, leaving readers to grapple with their own interpretations of Jessamyn’s fate. This may frustrate some but will resonate with those who enjoy open-ended narratives that invite reflection.

She’s a Lamb! is not an easy read. Its dark tone and deeply flawed protagonist, but for fans of bleak, character-driven studies, it offers a thought-provoking and intense experience. Hambrock’s ability to weave humour into this dissection of ambition and despair makes this book a memorable, if uncomfortable, journey.

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Jessamyn, a 20-something wannabe theatre actor, and an unreliable narrator narrates her story as the main-character of her life/this novel.
Written in a stream of consciousness way of narration, this is a hilarious take on the theatre scene, and narcissism.
Had this been shorter, the pacing and the story would have been ideal and coherent.
If you had read books in a similar vein, perhaps this will surprise you less.
If not, then certainly you will enjoy it more than the reader who has read compelling unreliable narrator stories.
I highly recommend it due its enjoyability.

Jessamyn works at her regional theater, occasionally books some ads but her heart is in Musicals and she knows she is the best fucking one there is - she just had a late start!

We follow her journey starting with the audition for Maria for The Sound of Music. We read her stream of consciousness and it is super unhinged, dark and humourous at the same time.

It was like All's Well and Black Swan meshed together with the added humour.

Thank you very much to ECW Press and Net Galley for the ARC.

My sincerest thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for a copy of "She's a Lamb!" in exchange for honest feedback.

This hilarious, dark satire novel by Meredith Hambrock would have been a five-star novel if it didn't devolve, just a little, into a Lifetime movie in the last third. The obsessed-creative-to-psycho-killer trope is often overdone, and I wished the main character would have remained a mere delusional and romantic theatre kid instead of killing multiple people to get the role of Maria in "The Sound of Music".

Other than the last fifty pages or so, I loved this novel. I love characters who aren't self-aware, and I love meta-commentary on the arts, all of which this book continually fed to me. I also love how deeply unserious the context of the protagonist's spiral into madness was... like, all of this for a mid-level musical in Vancouver? And not even "Hamilton", by the way. I definitely recommend "She's a Lamb!" to anyone who likes satire, absurdity, theatre, and unhinged female protagonists.

This one was another stream of consciousness novel that I came across this year. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the ability of it being more focused to the plot while exposing things about a leading lady. She’s a lamb is about a woman, Jessamyn, trying out for the role of lead in the sound of music.

Delulu is the Solulu for this woman. From fantastical thinking about her life to even not seeing someone scamming her, Jess and her pursuit for the role leads her down a dark path. She is aiming for the role of Maria in sound of music but then is hired as a childminder. The job that she thinks that is because of budget cuts and talks herself into thay she is also an understudy. Because she is very single-mindedly focus, the plot and her inner monologue does not veer much from the current plot which is a good thing because stream of consciousness, narrative have tendency to go on different tangents. With also a self sabotage streak with her relationships, it is interesting to see how she justifies her actions as well as how those relationships and interactions play out.

It is addictive funny and also satirical to a point to see an unhinged character and view everything from her lens. The rationalisations and justifications of her actions as well as a delusions of being entitled and no one telling her things, it was disturbing and equally entertaining to be in the shoes of Jessamyn. She is equally unlikable ,unreliable narrator but as well as you feel a sense of pity at her naïveté and the bubble she forms around her head.

When The plot gets some momentum and then things escalate rather fast causing you to test the limits and seeing how far does she go in order to achieve what she thinks she deserves. To a point, through other characters, it is also is a sharp satire where in the men in her life cast that patriarchal shadow on her ambitions. It is indeed a very black swan-ish premise with dark comedy treatment to its writing that invites the reader not just to view this through her point of view but also see her objectively independent of the story. It was surprising that this feat was achieved while having a stream of consciousness writing style, at least in my reading experience. She.

Definitely pick it up, but also give it a chance to engage you in a story that how far this woman would go to achieve her ambitions. As well as allow you to engage within the story as well as see it as a third person looking at an overarching big picture.

Oh honey, She's a Lamb! 🤭

This book is an excellent, spiralling, unhinged journey into the mond of Jess, she's a star baby, a musical triple threat if you will. She's on a journey to reach her dreams of being on that stage and we get to see it all unfold in manic time.

It took me a while to warm to this book, because the protagonist is deplorable and delusional, but stick with her and you get to see a fantastic tapestry of madness unfurl.

This book highlights feminine rage, SA impacts, toxic competition, mental stability and it does so with poise and care, while also keeping the reader enthralled and engrossed.

Rounding up from 4.5 stars.

This book was extremely entertaining and intriguing. It started off funny with Jessamyn’s delusions then turned very dark and she became more undone. It was still comical but with a darker tone towards the end. Jessamyn’s spiral was beautifully written, and her increasing detachment from reality was palpable. I could not put this down towards the end as I waited for the final resolution. However, it was left more open ended than I would have liked. Still a wonderful read!

Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press for this ARC.

This book was absolutely gripping! The main character is unreliable, unlikeable, and incredibly self-absorbed, but that’s exactly what makes it impossible to put down. I devoured it in just a day and a half, driven by my curiosity to see what would happen next. While I despise Jessamyn for her questionable choices, I also admire how delightfully unhinged she is. Thank you for the ARC—I absolutely loved it!

Very fun, dark suspense piece of work! Very quick read and thoroughly enjoyed this unique book. Would highly recommend.

truly didnt need to be this long, half of it could’ve been axed to build up to a less rushed climax. the ending felt cheap. the main characters descent into madness was okay, but i’ve seen it done much better and much more effective (black swan, all’s well). our main character was insufferable but not in the way i like, she had a few standout moments which i wanted to developed better instead of just fixating on her obsession with the play!!

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for supplying me with an arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was like reading Yellowface, if it was set in the world of musical theatre and more “cringe.” Jessamyn, our main character, makes decisions that are so naive and terrible that it’s like seeing a car wreck coming and watching it happen anyway. It has some great commentary about the sexism inherent in musical theatre of how men are treated vs. women, and also discusses how women in the musical theatre are very dog-eat-dog. If you liked Cathy’s storyline in The Last Five Years but wished she was more unhinged, you might like this. I was also reminded, toward the end, of Pet by Catherine Chidgey, by how off-the-rails this gets. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my review.

I love an insane main character! I absolutely devoured this, really enjoyed reading about a sudden and violent descent into madness

I feel like deranged woman is the new unreliable narrator in literary fiction these days. Sometimes it works really well. This time it was set in the theater which is another setting that seems to be trending right now. I think I've gone a decade without reading any theater books and now I've read at least a dozen in a couple years. At times you do want to root for her but in general nothing she does makes sense so its hard to read that for hundreds of pages.

Outstanding. I will start by saying this isn’t my usual genre, but I liked the cover and the premise. And then I started the book and couldn’t put it down. Jessamyn is an amazingly written character, and the ending is not at all what I predicted. The author does such a good job of giving us just enough information at just the right time.

I cannot praise this book more highly, I will be recommending it to everyone I know for the next 10 years!

Move over Moshfegh, Broder and Butler. I fear that Meredith Hambrock may be the new queen of writing unhinged and unreliable girlies who specialize in sh*t spiraling. God, this was so so good.

Hambrock's narrative style is absolutely hysterical, and Jessamyn is such a psychotic delight. This was just so damn fun to read. Jessamyn is way past her medication time and I love that for her (and us)!

It was hard (in a good way) to tell when Jessamyn's statements were part of her delusions or if they were things that were actually happening. Not once did this book shy away from AWKWARD, difficult, or straight-up murderous comments, and without spoiiling anything, if you watched and liked the movie "The Substance", you will LOVE the end of this story.

Everything about this book from it's awesome cover (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT!), to watching Jessamyn spiral more and more was utter perfection from beginning to end. I NEED more unhinged characters from miss Hambrock.

10/10. No notes.

EASY 5 stars.

God bless Jessamyn. She needs jesus, y'all.

It took me about a chapter to get into on account of the MC's voice, but every time I considered why I didn't like it I realised it was because it made me uncomfortable how she presented, and that just spoke to amazing writing! It was genuinely done so well- so many authors try to do the NPD/ narcissism thing and fall into the pop culture definitions, but Hambrock legitimately hit the diagnostic criteria in her presentation of the MC and it astounded me in the best way! I was constantly marvelling at how skilled she was in not only properly displaying someone with NPD, but not using it as a cop-out for the murders. This type of representation makes me so excited and I'll definitely be recommending it to anyone wanting to understand NPD versus typical pop understandings!

'Good for Her'/Unhinged unreliable narrator/Weird girl is my favorite genre. And She's A Lamb absolutely delivers. Jessamyn St. Germain is simply the main character, and she is every aspect of the word. It is quite literally her world and we are all simply players and by standers just living in it. The writing here is so sharp and quirky, you can't help but find yourself unable to put this novel down. I also am a theatre girlie- so there were jokes in this novel that just landed perfectly to me. I enjoyed this so much. Can't say enough good. However, the climax at the end felt a bit rushed but honestly just had to end no other way. I would love to see more from Meredith Hambrock in future novel!


Thank you to ECW Press, NetGalley, and Meredith Hambrock for this ARC!

I was first drawn to this book because of the cover and the title. When I then read the description and I realised that, of coiurse, the title is a The Sound of Music reference I knew I was in for a treat. And a treat it was. I absolutely loved it! It is funny, dark, engaging and smart. It’s the kind of book that gets you out of a reading slump.

The main character, Jess, is insufferable and unhinged. While I love an unhinged character I usually can’t stand insufferable characters, I have given many books low ratings because of how unbearble an insufferable character is to me. But Jess… oh, I loved Jess. It is in the character development and creation that the author’s talent truly shines. It is no easy feat to create a character that you both hate and love. That comes across at once as unbearably vapid and utterly complex. Compulsively unlikeable and yet so compellingly likeable. A character that does highly questionable things and yet you still feel committed to rooting for her. Every. Single. Time. Meredith Hambrock has achieved all this perfectly.

That I too was delusional enough to believe in the ramblings and expectations of a clearly deluded character made me love the book even more: I was in it with Jess, I believed in her, I could feel her unease, I too could palpably sense the not quite right feeling she was experiencing, just as it all started crumbling down. My confusion as it unravelled, was Jess’s confusion.

A thoroughly enjoyable critique of patriarchy - and the toll that it takes on women - led by an unreliable character you will love to hate and hate to love. What more can you ask for? A darling, a demon, a lamb of book!

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up this book multiple times and it just wasn’t for me.

I love theatre and spent many years in high school as a stage director. I also love thrillers so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. Also the cover looks fun. I was expecting The Black Swan with humor or something along those lines. This book was not that.

Jessamyn is insufferable. She’s a delusional and unreliable narrator. While I do believe that style is overdone I can sometimes get into it but this character was so annoying. She thinks she’s meant to be a star. She wants to be the leading actress in a musical. The problem for me is she thinks she’s too good to take small roles or do any other form of theater. I couldn’t get into this listening to this entitled brat whine about wanting a part.

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book.

Now this is how you write an antihero.

When I started She’s a Lamb!, I found the main character, Jessamyn, vain, delusional, and mean-spirited. And she is, but eventually I also saw her determination (i.e., desperation), savvy, and loneliness, and I couldn’t help rooting for her. This is a young woman who put forth a monumental effort to succeed in her chosen career but found herself betrayed and victimised by those she trusted and turned to in her time of need.

I also couldn’t help but feel a certain sympathy for Renee, Jessamyn’s vocal coach and a bit of a conwoman. Seeing her standing outside the theatre on opening night with her “cheap” flowers—proud of her protégé but unknowingly despised by her—melted my heart.

The book is well-paced, and the narrative unfolds smoothly. However, the ending felt cliched and unrealistic. It’s hard to believe that someone could suddenly realise they’re no good at the craft they’ve worked on for years.

Also, and maybe this colours my view, I would have loved for Jessamyn to get her win before her inevitable comeuppance.

She’s a Lamb! is heartbreaking and compelling. A worthwhile read.