A very insightful analysis of pop culture history - very entertaining! It was like reading a podcast transcript from Be There in Five, it was very clearly in Kate's voice. I would love to hear the audio version!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press for the digital review copy and audio review copy! I started this book on ebook but quickly switched over to the audio when it got approved, because if there's one thing I love, it's listening to an author tell their own story.

One in a Millennial: On Friendships, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In is part memoir, part cultural exploration of growing up as a millennial woman. Kate Kennedy has a podcast called Be There In Five, so some readers/listeners may already be familiar with her, but I personally was not. This book looks at the things she loved or pretended to love while growing up, with a lens on how these cultural moments impacted millennials and shaped who we would become.

Kate is a little bit older than me, so some of her touch points are a smidge before my time, but overall this was still an incredibly relatable book. I loved hearing her unpack the "little" things about growing up that were often minimized but that actually did have a huge impact on us, like deciding which Spice Girl you would be or trying to have the right trendy items to fit in with the popular crowd. So often, the things that young women like are considered trivial or not worth examining, and I like how Kate points out the wider and personal impact of things like American Girl dolls or Lisa Frank backpacks.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and highly recommend the audio version. I will say that Kate is super into rhyming and wordplay, which is a fun element of the book, but at times felt a little bit forced, particularly on audio where she emphasizes certain things. While I loved the humor and personality, at times it did distract me because it was just so prevalent. I suspect I wouldn't have noticed it as much in print.

After listening to this book, I'm off to explore the entire back catalog of Kate Kennedy's podcast, and honestly, I can't think of higher praise than that for a memoir introducing me to a person and their way of examining pop culture. I highly recommend One in a Millennial to millennial women looking for some validation about how the ways things were impacted who we are, and to anyone who enjoys a close look at the impact of pop culture.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book initially captured my attention as a millennial in my early thirties. As Kate explains throughout her book, we are the generation who had a childhood without the internet being easily accessible. However our teen and college years were well documented online as social media platforms gained in popularity. Kate does a great job highlighting how the little moments provided the best memories and bonding experiences - i.e. dressing up as the Spice Girls, sleepovers with friends, flirting with guys on AIM, finding the best going out tops and the pregames.

I love that Kate is a Swiftie and makes references to difference songs throughout the book.

Her discussion about situationships really hit close to home for me. As a Swiftie, I related to Taylor Swift's song "right where you left me" because it captured that pain of feeling like you're not good enough.

I love the decision to speak on a women's right to make medical decisions with her own medical provider. As explained, abortions are sometimes required in order to save a women's life. I feel so sorry for the women in the US with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

As a 32 year old woman with a strong desire to become a mom someday, I loved that Kate opened up about her journey and struggles.

I had not heard of Kate or her "be there in five" podcast prior to reading this book. I have since started listening to her podcast. I hope she considers bringing her book tour to Ontario Canada. But I know she is about to start a new special chapter in her life and will likely stay closer to home.

Non-fiction always makes me nervous. While I feel like I'm now aware of the kind of non-fiction books I have the potential to enjoy, I'm still hesitant and worried when I (seldom) pick one up.
Fortunately, One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy is nostalgia times 1000 and made me feel like I was wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket whenever I picked it up.
I truly feel that a non-fiction generational book can most effectively be written by an individual within that generation and Kennedy is a fantastic example of why. Her thoughts, her ideas, writing style, and brand of humor are so millennial-specific that I feel it takes another millennial mind to appreciate them the way they deserve to be appreciated. That being said, I do think individuals from other generations can read this book and enjoy it for its pop culture references and influences, many of which are experiencing a resurgence currently.
Kennedy finds a way to infuse millennial-centric pop culture memories with important life lessons, which is such a wonderful perspective and provides a great jumping off point for retrospection.
From American Girl dolls, to the ditzy but kind female heroines in 90's-00's television and movies, to the absolute devastation that is watching A Little Princess (Side note: This movie made me cry so hard that my mom ran into the family room thinking I was having a medical crisis), Kennedy does something only a millennial can do: She allows us to look back at the absolute nonsense within our pasts and no only think of it fondly, but learn something from it.
To any and all millennials out there, I definitely recommend giving this non-fiction gem a read!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

4 stars!

Kate Kennedy's "One in a Millennial" will make people like me, elder millennial people born in the late 80s-early 90s, cheer, squirm, and gasp at our collective shared memories. Did we all really experience the same things during the 90s and 2000s?! It sure seems like it, if Kate's memories are any indication! From AIM to purity rings, the Spice Girls Chupa Chups to American Girl Dolls, this book is full of humor, cringe, and nostalgia. Nostalgia is a heck of a drug. I frequently listened with my mouth agape in mutual horror and adoration at how similar our stories are. I have listened to Kate's podcast on and off, and this book feels very authentic to her brand, her sense of humor, and her play on words. This entire book felt like one giant trip through scrapbooks, yearbooks, J14 magazines, catalogs, and burned CDs, as if I were sifting through old digital cameras with a friend reminiscing about the "good 'ol days." Kate is quick to point out that these are her own myopic experiences, that bigger picture issues about what her youth and growing up really meant came later for her in regards to gender, race, and especially religion. Her essays and poetry range from spectacularly fun to depressingly insightful, from casual to deep. I do think the book as a whole is a bit long and could have been truncated, but I did enjoy reading this overall.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Kennedy, and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Full disclosure: I've been a fan of Kate's podcast for several years now. I discovered it when I was working in a truly toxic job and had transitioned to working full time remote (pre-Covid). The long form nature of the podcast kept me company on some long days alone in the house with my laptop, and I'll probably always have a soft spot for it. That also meant I could hear a lot of this in Kate's voice, and if you aren't familiar with it I would really recommend getting the audiobook where you'll be able to hear it. The digressions and the verbal gymnastics she has become known for are also fully on display here in the book, and I think it's either a thing where you are with her in the Up All Night Club with Lorelei Gilmore as your ultimate aspirational verbal role model, or you aren't.

"I was, como i dice, very easy to get. I was always detailed, verbose, emotionally available and quite literally, available."

This is being pitched as not a memoir -- but it is a highly specific collection of essays about Kate's life and experiences that if you grew up as a white, female, upper to middle class millennial you are also very familiar with the cultural touch points around which this "I am just like the other girls" mix-CD revolves. None of that is a bad thing, and I quite enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

Many thanks to NetGalley, I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. I am screaming with how much I loved and adored this book. I'm running out to buy it for al my girlfriends. This book 100% brought me back to my high years and I couldn't stop smiling while reading it.

One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Rating: no rating (I don't rate memoirs, and this felt more like an memoir than simply non-fiction)
Format: eARC

This book is perfect for the feminist millennial gal in your life. Kate's essays are relatable, honest, funny, and nostalgic. From the elusive American Girl doll you could never afford to playing M.A.S.H. to the feeling of never getting asked to dance at middle school dances to being made fun of for "obsessing" over something seemingly "meaningless" and "girly" to finding your place in life and everything in between (yes I know this is the longest, run-on sentence ever), this author nails it. I felt like we were friends (unashamedly!) catching up over a pumpkin spice latte. Her honesty and humor was refreshing.

I think this is a hard book to rate because the author put SO much of her own story into it. I personally choose not to rate memoirs because it feels unfair to rate someone's personal experience. Her essays are full of personal accounts and her own opinions, so I think this is closer to a memoir than it appears. She gets on her soapbox at times, but I'm here for it.

At times, the book dragged a little (this could also be my short attention span for long chapters), but overall it was enjoyable! I think I would've liked this one even more on audio. Reading it made me want to check out the author's podcast, Be There in Five.

Read this if you...
- are a millennial
- love pop culture references
- need some nostalgia in your life
- want to celebrate girlhood
- liked Wordslut (I think Kate Kennedy and Amanda Montell have very similar writing styles!)

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my eARC in exchange for my honest review. One in a Millennial is out January 23rd!

Note: I'm rating this 5 stars as a default for memoirs that I enjoyed - I think anyone that puts their own story to paper deserves that!

One In a Millennial is a nostalgia filled collection of personal essays that delivers funny and heartwarming stories that any millennial woman can relate to. From AOL instant messenger to going-out tops, Kate Kennedy recalls those little details you might have momentarily forgotten but will never truly forget. The author focuses on specific details from childhood, teen years, college, and beyond with a heavy focus on pop culture influences that deliver on nostalgia but are also clearly well-researched.

I'm a few years younger than the author but I had a great time reminiscing on those little details that played a larger impact on my development, such as my early introduction to the Internet and the heavy influence of purity culture. I would classify this more as a collection of essays than a memoir, and a few of these essays could have benefited from additional editing with some chapters feeling long and repetitive. With that said, If you don't mind as many pop-culture references as you might find in a standard episode of Gilmore Girls, and you feel like reminiscing on the late 90s and early aughts, this book will certainly deliver!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

One in a Millennial is a memoir about growing up as a millennial. While I am all GenX and proud, I loved reading about the millennial experience from American Girl to Spice Girls to Limited Too and Parent Trap. The pop culture references were spot on and I found myself giggling several times. But what really stood out for me was the misogynistic messages portrayed to girls back then (and in my childhood too). The messages that a feminist was angry and unlikable, being in STEM was for nerds (and really not for girls at all) and the real goal was to be popular and thin and just be interested in fashion and the mall. The examples from Saved by the Bell as to this point were so perfect.

One in a Millennial is a fun blend of memoir and social commentary about growing up online and all the trends we strangely followed as children. I especially like the later chapters, where the author talks about the effects the internet and pop culture have had on her decisions as an adult, like deciding whether or not to have children.

This book is Chicken Soup for the Millennial Soul! As a fellow millennial who grew up with The Limited Too, tabloid magazines, and Chupa Chup lollipops, I felt seen by this book. Kate's essays are humorous, nostalgic, and often poignant as she examines the trends and moments that shaped our generation, and the way it shaped how millennial women see themselves.

One in a Millennial is quite the trip down memory lane - nostalgia galore, most chapters reminding me of things buried deep for decades. Kate Kennedy brings her story to life and how events, relationships, trends shaped her as she transitioned to adulthood. This a great read to get lost and feel a range of feelings as you move along with her.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Millennial nostalgia seems to be everywhere right now as some fashion and trends are coming back into popular culture and a new generation is experiencing them. I love nostalgia and actually found this book from an Instagram ad that was clearly targeted to my demo. I saw the millennial pink cover with the ‘hot-girl handwriting’ sharpied burnt CD and knew I had to read it. So kudos to the marketing and cover design team!

Even though Kate grew up in Virginia and I in New Jersey, the amount of similarities of our millennial experiences was astounding to me. From specific Marykate & Ashley movie references, to the constant wish for a ‘vacation boyfriend,’ to mentioning the ‘girl with the green ribbon around her neck’ (you remember the horror story), to discussing Bath & Body Works hand sanitizers and the “hot girl scents of cucumber melon, warm vanilla sugar and sweet pea” I was astounded by our shared pop culture experiences! I absolutely thought cucumber melon was specific to my school, lol.

Some quotes that I had to bookmark based on how much I related to them to how much they made me laugh—

“Now, you curate a photo or two of the whole evening, but back then, your friends would mass-upload every goddamn photo like it was a makeshift animated flip-book of the nights least notable details. Social media wasn’t the highlight reel it is today; it was more like bad ongoing CCTV footage captioned with inside jokes. No accidental pocket photo, duplicate or legally questionable photo of a person underage-beer-bonging went undocumented, much to my hungover horror. Though I will say, there are few things more character building than waking up to an email that says, “You’ve been tagged 63 times in so-and-so’s album ‘cuZ tHe PaRtY dOnT StArT TiL I WaLk iN’”

I was the friend curating these Facebook albums, and yes indeed posted photos of the inside of a pocket with some kind of caption like “haha who had my camera here?” 🤭

“Legend has it that every time “Heart & Soul” plays, not unlike a bell ring, a person with the middle name Marie, Elizabeth, Lynn or Nicole gets their wings.”

This made me lollll.

“Even though clinical depression wasn’t on my radar, it seems like it should be pretty obvious from the volume of times I was listening to “The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice on repeat’”

So specific, but this was absolutely my go to angst song and I totally left shady away messages with lyrics from it on AIM.

The book lost me a little as it kind of shifted more into memoir than essays, but I think the author’s perspective is very thoughtful. I like how she delved into the misogyny and extreme beauty standards of this time as well as the pressure to conform and not be an individual. The author is very vulnerable and I think many will see themselves in her struggles. I think at times some of the essays just got a little repetitive/meandering for me and felt like the author made the same points like 100 times. It was kind of like the Barbie movie ‘speech’ for me—well written and insightful, but feminist thought and theory I’ve mused on for years so there was nothing ground breaking. But that won’t be the case for all readers.

3.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Happy {almost} publication date to the one, the [not] only Kate Kennedy! I adore this woman and her words! And, thanks in part to her, I will NOT apologize for the number of exclamation points used in this review!

Part memoir, part walk-down-memory-lane, part social critique, Kate's book made this millennial feel seen, understood, and appreciated in ways mainstream media never could/would. Her razor-sharp wit and niche pop culture references made me LOL, quite literally! The structure of the text mirrors her personal, and in turn, our collective growth and evolution as a generation. Queen of the disclaimer, Kate makes a point to clarify that her experiences are simply that, *her experiences*; however, her story resonated with my own in countless ways.

I tackled this book twice - once in text and once in audio format. I recommend both highly, but thanks to her career as a podcaster, Kate writes in a cadence that is often elevated through spoken word.

I'm not sure if/how this would read as a non-millennial, but as an often misunderstood and scapegoated generation, I would wager it a worthy read for all, regardless of age.

Once in a Millennial hits shelves 1.23.24.

*This book was read and reviewed in partnership with NetGalley.*

This book was part pop culture commentary, part memoir as podcaster Kate Kennedy reflects on various trends throughout her life. In this book, she discusses a wide variety of topic from American Girl dolls, to going out tops (IYKYK), and even more serious topics such as the purity culture from the early 2000s. This book was a fun walk down memory lane as a fellow millennial, but also made me think differently about some aspects of culture and how they may have impacted our generation. While there weren’t any earth shattering revelations, this was a fun read for a bit of millennial nostalgia. Kate Kennedy narrated the audiobook herself and listening to it felt like chatting with a friend.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for the advance copies.

With reverence for the ways in which we as a generation expressed ourselves, irreverence for things like the perfect AIM screen name and thoughtful analysis of how these factors turned millennial girls into the the women we are today, One in a Millennial takes a crack at the ubiquitous experience of growing up in the 90s and early 2000s.

Though I am a few years older than the author and experience the same cultural milestones as a high schooler and not a middle schooler, so many of her experiences rang true for me. But nothing more so that the chapter titled “Pumpkin Spice Girl”. Reading this felt like having a conversation with a friend who grew up in a different state but somehow still listened to the same music and still had the same posters on the wall. I really enjoyed the reading experience, but also wish I would have listened to One in a Millennial on audiobook to listen to Kate Kennedy narrate her formative years and the way they have shaped her now as a thirty-something.

4.5 Stars!

This book is for every 30 something millennial girl who grew up in the 90s; its literally an ode to our girlhood (in memoir form despite being told its not a memoir). A nostalgic trip down memory lane of the girl we were and how much all we that loved & were influenced by played a role in the women we've become.

So many of Kate's experiences and/or feelings I genuinely could've written myself - probably even word for word. I LOL'd so often at how vividly she depicted parts paralell to what feels like my very own memories.

The entire book is basically one 90s pop culture reference after another that is just so poignantly intertwined within the essence of what shaped our young lives. Granted some experiences were not similar to mine, it was written so well that I still felt a sense of nostalgia to her experience. Not everyone person will feel a connection to this the way I did and Kate herself acknowledges that that may be the case - but I do feel there's a chapter in here for everyone.

Focused on all the most important F words of our lives - friendships, feelings, fangirls, feminism & fitting in, this book is a "basic" reference to the girls we once were. I loved the nostalgia of it, and defintely recommend it for when you want a light and easy read to put a smile on your face. Kate brought validation to our upbringing with a "zig-a-zig-ah" and I am so here for it.

This book is not for everyone BUT the people that it is for will revel in the nostalgia. Kate is funny and reflective in a way that makes us look back and not feel stupid at all the little things we did (like pining over boys on AIM) because it was more of a collective feeling than we realize.

Some of the passages felt a bit long to me, but over all each essay had me in multiple different feels.

3.75 stars

As an elder millennial…this book is so ridiculously relatable. Honestly, almost painfully so at times. Don’t let the cute millennial pink cover fool you—while there certainly are a plethora of light-hearted moments within a massive amount of pop-culture referencing nostalgia, there is also a surprising amount of thought-provoking depth. I cried almost as many times as I laughed, and I think I will be processing a lot of the thoughts and memories that this book brought up for quite awhile.