She’s a Lamb follows Jessamyn St. Germain who believes she is meant to be a star. Jess has been stuck doing TV commercials and being an usher at a small theatre. Jessamyn desperately wants the role of Maria in the upcoming production of The Sound of Music. She ends up being the childminder for the kids playing the Von Trapp children but will stop at nothing for the lead role.

Just by looking at this cover I thought this was going to be an unhinged sad girl novel and in many ways it is. Jessamyn’s inner monologue is over the top and pretty silly. I enjoyed this for what it was but it wasn’t a new favourite.

There is so much I want to say about this book but I’ll try to be concise. As an actor and overall theatre nerd, I was drawn to this book, especially as it was compared with one of my all time favorite books, All’s Well by Mona Awad. Like Awad’s novel, this is a glorious unhinged woman story with a staged twist. And what Meredith Hambrock has done is create a character study of the worst, most entitled narcissist you’d ever meet and still make her sympathetic and complex. That’s hard to do, and it’s a testament to Hembrock’s talent as an author. I love a story where you see someone’s entire persona fall apart piece by piece, going past the point of “how could this get worse” and making the story absolutely bonkers in the best way. All I know is that if this ever gets optioned for a film, I’m gonna pull a Trisha Paytas and gun for the role. In the meantime, I’ll just be forcing every actor I know to read this. Oh, and the Singin’ in the Rain homage in the climax? Perfectly executed. Five stars, no notes.