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!

I tried to like this book. I really did. I'm a millennial, and all those cultural experiences should speak to me. I kept setting it down, then going back to it. But no matter how many times I gave it another chance, I just could not get into this author's writing sty.le.

This book is definitely a sipper.. in the best way! You’ll eat up each bit of nostalgia little by little. Millennials are going to be screaming yesssss to so much in this cutie. I’ve never highlighted more on my kindle!

Growing up in conservative west Michigan, she talks at points about the problematic issues in religious communities in the 90s/00s and how they still effect millennials today. I say that to share that it gets deeper than just spice girls and beanie babies 😘

She is hilarious and raw. So relatable. This would be the perfect gift for any millennial in your life!

I did the first 85% on my kindle and the last 15% on audio. I LOVED them both but the audio is really well done! ❤️

Thank you NetGalley for my copies!

I went into One in a Millennial with a clear slate, as I had read nothing or had not listened to anything by Kate Kennedy before and thought going in this would be a fun telling of what it was like growing up as a millennial. What this ended up being was much more of a memoir of Kennedy's with some themes and common experiences of at least some millennials. The book starts off with a long disclaimer about how these are just Kennedy's experiences and just her opinion- I get that she had to get it out there that this is one woman's experiences, but that was abundantly clear while reading the book- and it just came across as trying too hard to stave off early critiques/damage control. What she experiences is a unique subset of millennials, and much of this book will not resonate with others of her generation. I did like how she split the book up into three sections- 1990's, 2000's, and now. As an elder millennial, the 90's section resonated with me the most- going to the mall with friends, American Girl doll envy (both as a sign of wealth and also an entryway into history one may not be learning in school), and popular television shows. The 2000's were not as relatable as I would already older at that stage, but she discuss about posting everything online, toxic diet culture, mental health awareness, and growing up in a generation of school shootings (she was at Virginia Tech at the time of the shooting). Where I struggled was her diving into purity culture and religion which was a niche I did not experience, as well as her college years and sorority culture which all came across as very white and privileged. When she pivots to now, is when she really lost me. She talks about her podcast (which I have no interest in diving into now- why does everyone need a podcast? I never heard of it- how did she get a book deal?). My major critique of this is that it needs to be two separate books- stick to major turning points and cultural milestones with the millennial generation or write a straight memoir (where fans of hers can read about her life). The stories are too individualized to be much of a broader critique and I did not find myself invested in her. This was a miss for me which I would have not finished if I had not read a review copy.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

I always jump at nonfiction taking a look at pop culture, and One in a Millennial caught my eye right away. As a fellow millennial, though a bit younger than Kate Kennedy, the references spoke to me and brought out a lot of nostalgia. I was also interested in this examination of millennial pop culture tied into our age group's childhoods and young adulthoods and interacted with larger markers of millennial life. Kennedy is a funny writer and her voice came through so clearly from the beginning, but I appreciate how seriously she took the culture of female millennials and how it shaped them.

Want to dive back into your teen years? Look no further than One In A Millennial! This book had me reminiscing every step along the way! There were so many things discussed that just hit right in the feels, but also made me realize how universal they were for the time, it wasn’t just me. I did feel like the chapters needed to be a bit shorter, as I find long chapters can sometimes feel cumbersome and make me less likely to pick the book up. Overall this book was a fun blast to the past and I really enjoyed it!

Outside of our own generation, no one like millennials. We have no money, and everything is our fault. Except, it’s really not. We are starting to get old, though, and we can totally be cringe, but if you remember coming of age in the 90s, early aughts, you’re likely to enjoy this retrospective. From definitely movies, music, and experiences, these essays are likely to resonate.

It was a fun deep dive into nostalgia, from this show to Now and Then (THE definitive movie of my childhood) and he Spice Girls. I felt seen! It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Growing up never is. I identified with the painful parts of Kennedy’s adolescence, too.

This was the most relatable book, hands down. I am absolutely obsessed with it and it is my book of the year. The way she so accurately describes the complete nature of girlhood through womanhood was absolutely incredible and I felt so seen. Will be recommending this book to EVERYONE

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of One in a Millenial by Kate Kennedy!

I took quite a while to read this only because Kate Kennedy is so spot on in her essays that it was too real at times haha. She writes with such honesty and humor that it truly feels like nothing I’ve ever experienced was an original moment. I highly recommend to anyone wanting to feel connected to other millennials and know that we all went through the same embarrassing things.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love this book as much as I hoped to. It felt like multiple books smushed into one with the varying themes Kate discusses and traces through her life. It just felt like too much and not enough simultaneously.