This was an interesting read for a millennial woman, but I’m not sure if it will appeal to audiences outside of that group. Going in, I thought the book was going to be about what it was like growing up as a millennial woman, but it was actually a memoir, a very specific experience of one millennial woman. There were several ideas and experiences that I identified with as a millennial woman, but also many things that I didn’t connect with at all. This book explored some really deep and meaningful reflections on feminism, sexism, and body image issues that were great. A fun read for a millennial woman if you go in knowing it is a memoir. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Kate is great! I wasn’t sure how much this would resonate with me as I’m technically considered a Gen X (1979) but 90% of it did. Loved all the pop culture references and her dissection of how those have shaped us. How flawed so many of them are yet they are precious childhood memories for us. We loved Saved By the Bell but Slater treated Jessie like a dumb dumb. How feminism was tainted from an early age and thought of as some enraged woman.

I love that she gives us permission to love surface level things - makeup, celeb gossip, bravo etc while also still allowing for deep meaningful connections with others.

I really appreciated what she shared in regards to infertility. How ingrained it was growing up - playing Mash - how many kids we would have, only to later face that sometimes parenthood isn’t a choice.

I felt like a kid again reading about slumber parties, the mall, dream phone, Now and Then, CPK, gaucho pants lol. She doesn’t corrupt those memories but expands our understanding of them. Giving space for love and growth.

I’ll definitely be reading more from Kate.

I’ve been a long time listener to Kate Kennedy‘s podcast and a follower of hers on Instagram. I absolutely adore the way she dives deep into the randomness topics that millennial women are seriously invested in. I still remember listening to her three hour podcast about Mormon mommy bloggers and wish she had done multiple sequels. One in a Millennial a deep dive into the pop culture that made the millennial generation. She really understands how it is to live in the in-between everything. Kennedy does a an excellent job of bridging the gap of the modern millennial women.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was not a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't love this book and it lived up to every expectation I had. Kate's writing style is just like her podcast style; it's long winded, in the best way possible, and is ridden with little jokes and pop culture anecdotes. It's very Lorelei Gilmore (without all the selfishness). If you've never listened to Be There in 5, it might take some getting used to but it's so fun and I know you'll eat it up in no time.

One in a Millennial covers everything from Britney Spears, Limited Too, Going Out Tops, the Internet and Pumpkin Spice fascination. It covers the 1990s-2020s and hits on every major milestone young millennial woman have gone through. It's a look behind the curtain of what it was like to grow up in a time where everything was promised to us, but nothing was delivered.

While the topics Kate discusses might seem surface level, she has a way of deep diving into them and finding the depth and seriousness. She can analyze a situation, a pop culture moment or phenomenon and discuss how that moment shaped us. She allows us to look at things a little differently than before.

This book, and everything Kate puts out, makes me feel so seen. I've always felt deeply connected to pop culture, to the nostalgia of my childhood, and the idea of the millennial generation. We're the last generation to know what it was like before the internet, before cellphones, before streaming services. We're very special in a lot of ways and it makes me sad that so many people dislike us for no reason.

I take being a millennial very seriously, it's half of my personality (half joking, half not) so this book was like coming home for me. It was so funny, so witty, so interesting, and just a good time. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me nod along and reflect on my own memories.

One in a Millennial is a quick, fun, witty, and beautiful read that feels perfect coming off of the year of Barbie, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. 2023 was truly the year of the girl, and One in a Millennial is the best way to kick off 2024.

This book was full of nostalgia for me. From the very first line I knew that I was going to relate hard to this one. I loved the book about as much as I loved Dreamphone as a child.

This was SUCH a fun read. I've listened to Kate's podcast for a while and love everything she does. She makes me feel like a true millenial and I was taken down memory lane more than a few times! She's so relateable.

I absolutely loved One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy! I am an avid listener of her podcast Be There in Five, so I knew that I would enjoy and relate to the content of the book. Kate puts into words so many experiences and feelings I thought were just individual to my life. She has an incredible knack for puns and I found myself laughing out loud while reading multiple times. I will absolutely be recommending this book to fellow Beths and my millennial friends!

Going into this book I didn’t know anything about the author Kate Kennedy. So it was cool to learn that she’s just a few years older than me, grew up like an hour away from where I lived, and went to college two hours away from my alma mater. It made a lot of the stuff she discussed feel very close to home. Even when the types of millennial activities or styles she was discussing weren’t things that directly applied to me, they were things I remember noticing with other girls I grew up around.

Memoirs or books of essays where people use the pop culture that was important to them to explore different facets of their lives really appeal to me. It’s definitely important to know going in that much of this book is about Kate’s life and experiences. It will probably be relatable for a lot of women close to her age, but it’s also a way to get a glimpse into what life was like for a specific subset of millennial women.

I absolutely loved the writing in the book. It’s very poetic without ever feeling too flowery or too self important. The book covers a wide range of topics from the appeal of day beds, American Girl dolls, polo shirts, purity culture, mental health, AOL instant messenger, slumber party games, popular girl handwriting, and so much more.

I definitely recommend checking out the book if you’re interested in a mix of 90s & early 2000s nostalgia, modern reflections and commentary, and personal anecdotes. I did a mix of both reading the eBook and listening to the audio. Kate narrates the audiobook herself, and there are parts where you can hear her start to get choked up at emotional moments, which made listening to the book a really immersive experience.

One in a Millennial is a nostalgic rollercoaster of the (not so) niche female millennial experience. It brought back forgotten memories, it created a lump in my throat, and it made me feel validated as it speaks to the many pop culture moments we’ve shared and how they shape us.

In true Kate Kennedy fashion, she articulates the thoughts that many of us feel but are unable to thoroughly express. She consistently and creatively name drops nuggets from the pop culture glory days of the 90s-2010s that will make you laugh out loud. And in true Kate Kennedy Be There in Five fashion, she can get long winded, go off on tangents, and ramble for a surprising amount of pages – and as with her podcast, I hung onto and cherished every word.

This book isn’t anything groundbreaking or earth shattering but it’s entertaining, heartwarming, made me think/laugh/cry, and overall felt like a warm hug of nostalgia. Some of the tangents will feel choppy or jarring for those unfamiliar with her long form podcast style and I think they’d translate better if verbally delivered by the author. It’s not for everyone but it was the right fit for me and I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical and audio copy!

I love Kate’s podcast so I was so excited for this book. As a millennial I feel that Kate has a talent for putting the millennial experience into words - similar to how Taylor Swift can put it into lyrics. I enjoyed these essays which caused me to reflect on my own childhood, teenage years, and beyond. Thank you Kate for the walk down memory lane!

The way Kate described her childhood sparked so many of my own memories. I want to be her friend! This book felt like a warm hug. A few essays were a little wordy and could have been cut, but overall, I loved it. So many parts had me actually laughing out loud.

This book reads like a memoir and a comedy had a baby- the author Kate is now a podcast show host but was then a young girl who grew up in the 90's. She writes about how growing up in that generation shaped her into who she is today. Its full of a lot of fun references to things from the 90's that you would have had to experience to understand (being an elementary school aged girl and walking into Limited Too, quotes from a lot of 90's movies, and the celebrities/tv shows/movies that influenced us- hello britney spears ,saved by the bell, making an AIM screen name, and american girl dolls.) Even though this book was slow at times, I was grateful for Kate sharing her life with us. She writes about the hard times in life (experiencing a miscarriage and the grief that surrounds us) but as she is sharing that she throws in some funny quotes about being a millenial. This made it hard for me to take some of it seriously because the puns/references are just all throughout it. (ex: every time she says the phrases 'limited to' it is changed to "Limited Too." I thought it was just okay and enjoyed some of the throwbacks to her childhood that i also experienced.

Never before has a book made me feel more seen as a human being. I was expecting this book to be a fun and silly look at millennial life and trends and while it is that, it’s so much more. Kate really got into how much millennial culture shaped our formative years and how we’re still unpacking it as adults. From the toxic ways the media portrayed women to purity culture working its way into the mainstream media to all the ways certain products were marketed towards us and then the world shamed us for our interest in them, there were so many times I looked up from the book and thought “Huh, so THAT’S why I feel this way”. She definitely acknowledges that this is all her own views and ideas, but it all felt pretty universal to me. Also, her wordplay is next level. Contempo Casually cruel (in the name of being honest) killed me. It did feel a smidgen repetitive at times (my only complaint), but this book really spoke to me as a millennial woman. The chapters “God Must Have Spent A Little Less Time On Me”, “Kate Expectations” and “Pumpkin Spice Girl” were my favorites. I think there’s at least a chapter or two that will speak to everyone that reads it. I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copy so I can annotate the heck out of it. Highly recommend for millennials (obviously), but anyone who enjoys looking deeper into pop culture and how it molds us.
CW: mentions of infertility and miscarriage

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I enjoyed One in a Millenial! I think I was a little confused/thrown off because the genre didn’t quite match what I was expecting. I thought I was going to be reading more of a nonfiction dive into millenial culture and its impact, but this felt more like a straight memoir. It also felt a bit rambling and unfocused at times, which made my attention wander.
However, it was fun to look back on some of the universal experiences of growing up in the 90s and there were some really solid sections and quotable moments!

This book made me feel seen- it was like re-living my life (with Kate's twist). I loved it! It was a fun, nostalgic read that many women in their 30s can relate to.

It's Kate's beautifully written musings on different topics that millennials have lived through. She has such a unique and clever way of writing (the word play, YES!) that I feel like I'm in conversation with her, rather than reading her words.

I loved this, and highly recommend to those who love Kate's podcast!

As a regular listener of Kate's podcast, I had some pretty specific expectations for her essay collection. And true to form, each essay has Kate's instantly-recognizable tone, word play, and structure. For the uninitiated, Kate Kennedy is a master of the deep dive. She takes a single topic for each of her essays, like The Day Bed or Meredith Blake, and expands on them in a gloriously unhinged way, drawing in her own experiences and pop culture memories while continuously circling her main topic.
This book is a collection of personal essays, not an academic exploration of the millennial experience. Each essay is about a topic most millennial women can relate to, but the experiences detailed within are all from Kate's point of view. With that clarification, I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to a trip down memory lane to the 90s with a tour guide named Kate!
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the advanced copy!

This book is HILARIOUS, witty and incredibly well written! Kate Kennedy packaged up what it felt like being a 90’s baby with the perfect girly bow! I found myself laughing, tearing up, and having so much nostalgia come flooding back through the entire book! I immediately ran to Amazon to preorder the hardback so I can annotate and shelve this GODDESS of a book! If you’re a 90’s baby, a Swiftie, a former AIM user, a fan girl, or if you literally worshipped Mary Kate and Ashley, this book IS FOR YOU! And even if you aren’t any of these things, I guarantee Kate Kennedy will touch on a subject near and dear to you and have you loving this book just as much as I do!

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is honest, unbiased, and completely my own.

As someone born in 1975, I just barely missed being a millennial but soooo much of this book resonated with me and my childhood experiences. I absolutely love the way Kate Kennedy writes. It is so clever and her tangents are first rate. I devoured this book and hope she follows it up with another soon.

⭐️: 4/5

Kate Kennedy is the host of the podcast Be There in Five, which focuses on millennial issues and pop culture. In this book, she explores the culture that shaped her as a woman, full of observations about coming of age as part of a much-maligned generation, discussed with both humor and vulnerability.

Although I don’t normally gravitate toward nonfiction, after seeing this one and reading the description, it sounded really up my alley for the types of nonfiction that I do enjoy (i.e. pop culture related ones), especially because I am also a millennial, albeit one at the younger end of the spectrum than the author. Eventhough Kate Kennedy is an older millennial, 1987 to my 1994, so many of the references still hit perfectly, and a lot of the things she discussed about her childhood seemed like they were pulled directly out of my past. I’m sure that also had something to do with the fact that our childhoods were also geographically and socio-economically similar. Much like florals in spring, I’m not sure how groundbreaking a lot of her observations and points are, but it did feel like reading a conversation with a friend, reminiscing about the things that formed us and make us feel nostalgic, and it was definitely comforting to feel seen, knowing that you also weren’t the only one who did strange and maybe embarrassing things in the past, which ultimately was, I think, the point of the book. This was a fun, easy read that still makes you think on and analyze some of your commonly held assumptions and stereotypes, without making you think TOO much, which is my type of nonfiction book. I really enjoyed Kennedy’s narrative voice, and I’ll definitely have to remember to check out her podcast.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this free eARC!!

I'm already a fan of Be There in Five, and One in a Millennial did not disappoint. It's a memoir interwoven with pop culture throwbacks and commentary, and Kate's sharp humor and keen insights are as entertaining as ever. It would make a great gift for any millennial!