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.

this was a dark and actually pretty funny story! this is a story about Jessamyn, a twenty-six-year-old actress living in Vancouver who dreams about life as a celebrity. The plot follows Jessamyn as she auditions for roles that are outside her range of talent, spends time with two men she calls her boyfriends, & murders three people in a bid to take on the role of Maria von Trapp in her local production of “The Sound of Music” (1965). The story revolves around her distinctly decreasing mental stability & the environment that will leave readers wondering whether Jessamyn’s psychosis is a result of nature or nurture. i loved the cover it reminded me alot of motherthing which is a 5 star read for me!

2.5 ⭐️
I loved the concept, and it really did the whole ‘spiralling down into more and more unhinged territory’ thing quite well but honestly, the narrative voice of Jessamyn was so grating that I had to drag myself through this. I’m a little disappointed because I really wanted to love this more, I think on paper this is definitely a book for me but in reality, I just didn’t enjoy it that much.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book. (And Meredith for writing it!)

I loved this. A dark, witty, unhinged, full frontal F you to the societal pressures, double standards, and misogyny towards women trying to live their lives, and how women are expected to fight tooth and nail to be the star of the show.

We follow Jessamyn, an aspiring musical theatre star. She is trying her hardest to be the main character but is struggling to book jobs outside of TV commercials. She ends up landing a role helping the child actors on the upcoming production at the theatre she works at when all she really wants is to be the female lead. We get to visit the entire cast of her life, and we see how each person impacts her behaviours and has helped form this unstable mentality and the at times outrageous self-righteous personality we grow to love her for. As we reach the crescendo- the opening night of the upcoming production, the delusion begins to reveal itself. The curtains quite literally fall, and all is revealed.

This is a book that will sink a hook into you and then reel you in at an unnatural pace.

Highly recommend for fans of Yellowface (R.F. Kuang), Animal (Lisa Taddeo), and My Husband (Maud Ventura).

What a fun, sharp, and darkly funny look at one woman’s obsession with fame and the lengths she’ll go to in order to make her dreams come true. Jessamyn is convinced she’s destined for greatness — so when she's not, her delusions only grow, leading to some wild and cringe-worthy moments that’ll have you hooked until the very end.

This book was giving me almost everything I was looking for. Unreliable narrator 100% achieved. The book started off a little slow and it took me a hot minute to get into it, but once the pace started picking up I was hooked. Jessamyn is definitely the delusional and unhinged woman of the hour. This books embodies the sound from Pearl of her screaming please I’m a star and I am so here for it. I would have liked a little more horror components, but overall a great read.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

As a theatre major and a theater kid, this book was a must for me. I am also always drawn to unhinged narrators (i.e. Ottessa Moshfegh's work). Very unsettling, and brimming with dark humor-- so this won't be for everyone, but it's definitely for me! I also love the cover, very eye catching and will attract the right audience for this book, no question.

Jessamyn is an actress whose dream is to be in musical theatre. She gets passed over for the main role in the Sound of Music in favour of her rival, but instead gets to be the babysitter for the actors playing the Von Trapp children. Jessamyn will do anything to get to be in the show, and things get increasingly chaotic as the rehearsals progress, and then completely out of control.
The story is about Jessamyn, her messy relationships, past trauma and self-delusion. It is difficult to know what is true about her talent.
I loved the passages with the children, who completely accept Jessamyn for herself. They are really funny.
Despite Jessamyn's actions, I was still hoping that she would get to fulfil her dream.

What a weird little twisted book. From the incredible cover (come on, it's such a good cover!) to its campy nature, I had so much fun reading this. I loved how Hambrock wrote Jessamyn St. Germain. I was rooting for her since day one as she navigates misogyny in the entertainment world, in the real world, and just simply existing.