My words will never be able to fully describe the incredible prose that Kate Kennedy has mastered in her debut book. Her writing style is captivating and nuanced in a way that has me slowly digesting every sentence unlike any other book. Kate's sharp wit is easy to devour in book form. I cannot wait to also listen to the audiobook as Kate is always an incredible companion. I will recommend this book to all my friends.

One in a Millenial is a 90s and 2000s trip down memory lane from Kate Kennedy, the host of the podcast Be There in Five. The book is divided into three parts, the 90s, 2000s, and Today (lol). Each section goes through Kate's experience as a millenial growing up during those time periods.
I normally don't read non-fiction, but I was interested in this book due to the clever title and summary. This book was more of a memoir through a millenial lense, than purely a commentary on the millenial generation. I am only a casual listener of the author's podcast (a handful of episodes), but I'm sure for an avid listener this is a great read. I believe she narrates the audiobook, so it is probably like one long podcast episode, which sounds great to me!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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

I have enjoyed listening to Kate's podcast, Be There in Five, for quite some time and I enjoy following Kate on Instagram. When I saw her book on NetGalley, I requested it right away! This is an entertaining read and as a fellow Millennial, I deeply related with so many of her feelings in this book. It was fun to reflect and reminisce on many shared childhood experiences. I laughed my way through some of her stories remembering how I too struggled with my AIM username and just wanted my crush to send me a message. I also found myself agreeing with many of her takes on religion and the youth group culture that we grew up with. I felt all of the varying emotions of hindsight looking back on growing up as a Millenial and there is something so special about realizing that others had some of the same experiences and feelings as you did.

If you enjoy listening to Kate's podcast, you will definitely love her book!

📚: One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding up on #goodreads)

Going back to that other life where I'm a would-be sociology teacher - One in a Millennial would be the book to read on the other side of the coin to round out Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s as required reading.

So, I guess, welcome to Coming-Of-Age-In-The-2000s 101 taught by Professor InOneSitting. Nice to have you all here.

One in a Millennial, for the bulk of its content, is a perfectly chaotic read filled with millennial nostalgia - and not just the obvious references, I'm talking deep cuts. (Lisa Frank backpacks, knockoff Return to Tiffany necklaces, 99 Bananas alcohol 🤢)

Kate Kennedy does a stellar job weaving hilarious throwbacks into deeper topics - religion, feminism, mental health, male validation, among others. It all comes across as conversational and relatable from a millennial to a millennial. While the prose isn't the strongest (she self-admits to loving a run-on sentence), I sure did enjoy the 484920 Taylor Swift lyric references.

For me, the strongest parts were in 1 and 2. As we get to the latter third of the read, it becomes more current-day personal memoir than pop culture tie-ins that kept the pace of the earlier chapters quick. I'm not completely sure if Kennedy intended this to end up leaning so heavily to the memoir side, but certainly these are her personal stories.

Big thanks to @stmartinspress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. One in a Millennial is out on January 23rd!

I was fortunate enough to receive both an ebook and audiobook ARC of One in a Millennial for review so thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley!
I am a long-time listener of Kate’s podcast, Be There in Five, and was so excited for her book of essays on her Millenial experience. This memoir (despite protestations that it’s not), is a feminist look at millennial girlhood and womanhood. To paraphrase Kate, it’s deep dive into the shallow topics woman have often been made to feel bad for loving.

Kate’s belief in the importance of celebrating and liking what you like is one I share, and I found many of these essays both hilarious and honoring of my own experiences. She handles topics like “popular girl handwriting” with the same reverence as she does the decision to become a parent, and I have always loved that about her perspective. If you enjoy her podcast, her voice is just as strong in One in a Millennial.

I will note that this worked MUCH better on audio for me. Kate’s writing can be dense and sometimes sacrifices clarity/readability for wordplay and cleverness, and I found that significantly more noticeable in ebook than on audiobook. Kate is very clever and an earnest lover of wordplay, but I do think this translates best on audio.

All in all I’d recommend if you’re a fan of the podcast or an elder to mid millennial woman (maybe ‘85-‘96 ish?) as I think the references will land best for that group.

Love everything about Kate Kennedy!! I’ve been a long-time podcast listener, so when I heard she was releasing a book I knew I needed to read it ASAP. I always love her take and reflections on the millennial experience. She elicits nostalgia in the best way for things we loved and experiences we all went through.

As a millennial woman I was excited to read this series of essays. I knew of Kate from hearing her on various podcasts, but I haven't listened to hers specifically.

I enjoyed this book, but I found it a bit disjointed. It certainly is for the millennial woman as many of the essays were so specifically written for a very small group, which can be both a good and a bad thing. The stories were personal, funny, and really hit the nail on the head of being a millennial woman and if that is you, it can be a great read as well.

This book is a delight for millennial women. Equal parts nostalgic and thought provoking. I think it will be a huge hit with fans of Kennedy's podcast but I think it will also appeal widely to non-listeners as well.

I have not listened to Kennedy's podcast as I discovered it only after I read One in a Millennial. Contrary to Kate Kennedy writing this is not a memoir, the book is very much a memoir. One In A Millennial is a comedic think piece on the seemingly unique experiences of growing up as a millennial woman, that in retrospect were relatively common to our demographic. The book is structured in essays with three distinct time periods, the 90s, 00s, and 2010s.
Kennedy covers many of her experiences from childhood to adulthood framing them alongside nostalgic pop culture moments that brought back many of my own fond memories.

While One in a Millennial is nothing mind-blowing, it is a very fun read that I will recommend to many of my girlfriends!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

This book was really difficult to get into. A book that reflects on our past as a millennial. Definitely nostalgic but not sure if a whole book was needed to reflect on it? I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (Essays/ Memoir)
Releases: January 23, 2024

Synopsis: Kate explores pop culture, nostalgia and the millennial zeitgeist, much like she does on her podcast. She talks through life lessons and coming of age as a millennial. She writes about AIM, Limited Too, going out tops and so much more. She chats you through the Love-Marriage-Baby Carriage Pipeline (LMBCP), dismissal of female joy and being a product of our time.

My Thoughts: WOW!! Kate, are you in my head?? I love Kate’s podcast, Be There in Five, I’ve been a loyal listener for years. The essay, Kate Expectation, in particular, really dragged a lot of memories of dating in college out of my brain. I was nodding along with so much of this book. I truly loved it. I had many similar experiences, since I’m a few years younger than Kate. But wow! If you’re a millennial woman, I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for an early copy of the book tor review. As always, all opinions are my own.

If you love Be There in Five or Memoir essays, you’ll love this.

Book Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kate Kennedy’s autobiography, One in a Millennial: on Friendships, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting in, somehow managed to turn her very personal life experience into a story that perfectly encapsulates an entire generation!

Uniquely formatted, Kennedy employs stream of consciousness writing amongst essays and poetry. Her raw, honest, and vulnerable outlook is not only refreshing, but comforting. Not only did I feel seen, but I was also reminded of so many things I had long since forgotten.

While this is a fantastic read, I believe it is a true disservice if you do not listen to it on audio. Kate does a phenomenal job narrating the book. Getting to hear her story in her own words, made the entire 10 plus hours feel like I was catching up with a dear friend at a coffee shop.

Special thanks to Netgalley, Macmillian Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and Kate Kennedy for allowing me to read/ listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not a millennial, I'm Gen Z, but I could still relate to this book a lot! I think this wasn't intended to read as a memoir but it definitely did. I listened to this on audio and thought it was fun! Kennedy was a great narrator and super relatable!

I’m not a Millennial but I really enjoyed this book. I’m familiar with the author from her podcast and social media presence. The book spanned the emotional spectrum for me- I found it laugh out loud funny and touching in many parts. The nostalgic look back at the 90’s and 2000’s was a fun ride.

I never found myself highlighting a book more often than while reading this book. So many pieces resonated with me and helped me make sense of my own millennial experiences. I recommended it to multiple friends already. I do think I would have preferred reading through audiobook over written words, but that might just be my preference.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

DNF @30%

This book reminds me too much of other books I've read in the past couple of years. It is similar to "Wannabe" by Aisha Harris, which is a non-fiction book I loved, but this one felt like a rip-off of that selection. I enjoy reading about pop culture, especially about millennials. Also, I think the author's writing style just wasn't for me.

Thank you the publisher and to netgalley! So this was very much marketed as a take on millennial culture but felt like a memoir. I think it will work if your aware of some of the big millennial trends but for younger millennials, it might be a bit slow at parts.

I got 28% in and the chapter where she opposes Evangelical culture was a bit too much for this Evangelical to handle. I had to DNF.

Somewhere between a diary and a call to be okay with our cheugy 'home' wooden cutout signs, One in a Millenial is the novel that allows us just to be good with it all.

There's really nothing like that 90s/ early 2000s era sparkly butterfly clips and all. I really looked at all the cool older girls and wanted nothing more than to be like them, ya know? One in a Millenial is a reminder of all that formed us... especially the popular girl handwriting. Do you remember that?!! Because I totally do... I think my group of friends called bubble handwriting, and it was wild to hear that someone else recognized it!!

A quote I really loved... 'God forbid you like your reflection.' I really had to stop and think about this one for a bit.. because it's so foreign to think that someone else thinks the way I do. It's almost ridiculous how the narrative has become for so many women that we need fillers, extensions, and drastic cosmetic procedures to feel good about ourselves.. but the stars of the 90s were just gorgeous, naturally, you know? Dark-lined lips and all! 😂😂

**Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

Read this if:
•you are a millennial
•you wore gauchos
•you watched Holiday in the Sun with Mary Kate & Ashley
•you watched the Lizzie McGuire movie a million times and first saw it in theaters
•you liked the scholastic book fair
•own or owned Vera Bradley bags
•for navigating the “ifs” even when they seem so far away 💔

This book is a whole ode to being a millennial and I’ve never related to something more. Whether it was reminiscing over things of my childhood or the existential crisis over a corporate America job that pays the bills or a job you’re actually passionate about (if anyone figures that out lmk 🫠).

“No one can prepare you for that period of time in your mid to late 20s when your social life is literally only other people’s milestones.” “You feel like you’re defending your lack of personal life news when you’re celebrating someone else’s.”

This was the book I didn’t know I needed to read. It came into my life at the exact right time. I laughed. I cried. I feel so heard. Xoxo a fellow millennial.

Thank you SMP for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.