Nostalgic and funny, but sooooo long-winded! The paragraphs seemed never ending at times and it read as more of a ramble because of that. I think it could have been condensed/shortened - some of the points were repeated so many times in a chapter. It was still entertaining & I found some of the references so funny to think back on.

Ahhhh, I love non-fiction books like these! Especially given that I would fall under the "Millennial" classification as well (I was born in '93), this book was both such a joy to flip through given all the different topics it covers AND very enlightening. Perhaps I love it so much because of the deep feelings of nostalgia it evokes from me, but honestly I don't even care. I'd definitely recommend this book out to others if they like non-fiction reads that are equal parts hilarious, fun, and inf0rmative!

I tried to like this book, I really did. The premise was great. A look back at millennial pop culture? Hello, nostalgia! And there was some of the book that I enjoyed - being reminded of my childhood/teen/college years was a fun trip down memory lane. Unfortunately, there was just too much analysis and navel-gazing (I hate this phrase but feel like it applies here) for me to really enjoy the book. Additionally, the word-play used by the author was just a bit too much for me (once in a while it's okay but something on every page? It felt like overkill). I am not one to DNF so it says a lot for me that I could not bring myself to read this whole book.

I think other people will really enjoy this one (and already seem to based on the positive reviews I've seen on Goodreads). This one just wasn't for me.

This book was much anticipated from me as I’ve been a long time listener of Kate’s podcast. I really really wanted to like it. Unfortunately I think her ideas and puns are much easier to digest via audio, so I would suggest buying the audio book rather than trying to get through the long run on sentences. I didn’t like the “so random” sections as I don’t think they were “that random”, they would have just fit into the chapters without being in the own section. Around 80% of the way through the book, I had gotten the point and was more than ready to be done. I will continue to be an avid podcast listener but may just skip the next book.

One in a Millennial is a perfect summary of what it means to be a millennial. Kate Kennedy does a fantastic job of describing the unique position of millennials and how society molded (and continues to mold) our adult experiences. Kennedy and I had so many similar experiences growing up and her insight to how those experiences shaped us as adults were like giant lightbulbs for me. I've never felt more seen reading this book and have been recommending this books to my peers nonstop. Kennedy blends humor with intellect and has created an insightful look into what it means to be a millennial.

I did like this book, very much a summary of her best podcast episodes that are about her life experience. So a great way to highlight and bookmark topics and quotes.
Makes a lot of great points and able to lead us as millennial women to how we got to were we are today.
It took a lot to get through reading this. Might translate better to audio. The chapters were long, too long and not streamlined enough at times. Would have liked shorter chapters with fewer tangents.
The topics were not new if you listen to her podcast. This made reading not very exciting at times because I knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to say during most of the book.

4.5 stars, rounded down. This book made me feel SEEN in the best way - an onslaught of forgotten nuance by Kate Kennedy, one of the leading pop-culture enthusiasts of our time.

I really enjoyed the first & second sections of this book, going through childhood, the teenaged years, and the young adult years. It felt like shared commiseration, remembering the parts of your life that were so crucial but now seem distant and maybe trivial. These sections feel like a true celebration of pop culture, embracing the elements of ourselves that actually made us.

The third section is where this plot-less collection of essays actually loses the plot: there is some interesting commentary on life in your early 20s but Kate largely skips over this time frame and goes straight to the now. Not only is this section disjointed by trying to cover a larger span of time, it also gets very heavy and less celebratory. It’s not bad necessarily, but it is a direct contrast to the other 2/3rds of this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the trip down memory lane. I too mention Clueless 4 times in two chapters, or lowkey get my fashion tips from Chessy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Kennedy, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

To be fair, this is a completely biased review because I love Kate. I am an avid BTI5 listener and I pre-ordered the book the day she announced it. I had a full on “mario star” moment when I was approved on NetGalley.

This collection of essays is everything I love about the podcast in a delightfully highlight-ready form.

I immensely enjoy Kate’s ability to take something superficial, and wholly relatable and tie it back to a deeper systemic issue.

Thank you to the author, my parasocial BFF- Kate Kennedy, and the publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I love Kate Kennedy, but this book really needed a lot better editing to keep readers engaged. I know she enjoys adding in pop culture references in her podcasts, but multiple references on each page meant the reader was taken out of her storytelling each time, often within a single minute.

**Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for this e-ARC**

I am a huge fan of Kate's podcast so while yes, I am the target demographic for this book I still think every millennial woman should read it! Written in Kate's signature style, she takes us on a journey from girlhood to adolescence complete with pop culture references, wordplay, and tons of puns. I got the chance to read this after seeing the Barbie movie and it was exactly the book to follow the moment. It's a celebration of girlhood, of being exactly like all the other girls and why there is nothing wrong with that!

What I love about Kate is her ability to bring humor into everything while also still delicate enough to handle tougher topics. Reading this unlocked so many memories from my own childhood. This was a true joy to read. I am begging all of my millennial women to read this so I can discuss it with everyone!

I think I missed more puns than I got - ha!
Definitely read it in Kate's voice. I could hear (or not hear as the case may be) her pauses, where she would either bring her voice high or low, and her "tangent" voice. I didn't know we could get more personal than the Be There podcast, but this book is all her personal stories plus a disturbingly accurate depiction of growing up as a millennial from computer usage to what accessories or stores would boost your cred at school. The heartbreaking reality of the college experience not living up to the hype. Kate did a spot on job detailing being an elder millennial in this time. Stuck between young and experienced but having not a lot to show for it because of how society has deemed millennials entitled and yet lazy. And how society gave us the fortitude to start declaring what we actually like and don't like.
Kate should write a fiction coming-of-age story in the 2000s.
Also, the afterward made me cry.

DNF at 20%
I was just bored. The author tried to throw too many 90s references at us for nostalgia, that's all.

An amazing read for any millennial woman! I felt like I could relate to so much of Kate's writing and her experiences growing up in the early aughts. One of those books that will make you laugh and make you cry. I highly recommend!

3.5/5

While I am only half of the target demographic of this book as a millennial male, I was immediately drawn to this book just based on the title and description. I was not aware of Kate’s online presence prior to reading, but am definitely planning on checking her out now!

Most of this book was extremely relatable and it was very interesting to see how growing up as a millennial has impacted our adult lives. Kate managed to hit on most of the major influences on my youth: religion, AIM, Hollister and pumpkin spice lattes.

The main reason this book was not a 5/5 for me was because at points, the book really dragged for me. If I wasn’t interested in or relating to a topic being discussed, it was hard to stay focused and not put the book down after a few pages. This could be because I don’t typically read memoir/researched based books like this, or simply because I didn’t connect to everything discussed in the book.

That being said though, if you are a millennial looking for a (sometimes cringy) trip down memory lane and thinking about how that now impacts your adult life, this book is definitely worth the read.

One in a Millennial
By: Kate Kennedy
Review Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints

-There is so much that any millennial can relate to in this book!

-The author runs a podcast, but you do not need to listen to it to enjoy the book.

-Kennedy really points out all of the hallmarks of our childhood, and how it impacted us as adults.

-The essays run a bit long, which can make it hard to stay engaged.

———

One in a Millennial was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 1/23/24

I was so excited to read One in a Millennial. I knew there would be fun stories, throwbacks to childhood that I had not thought about before, and a better look into the shared times we all had.

There are so many little pieces I loved about this book (AIM, Lisa Frank, common Millennial cars, Going Out Tops…the list goes on and on). It was fun to see that we all went through those same things, and I loved reminiscing about those times.

What I did not like, however, was how much politics was mentioned. There are constant mentions of it, and for me, it took away from the stories (a little bit here and there is fine, this just felt like too much for my personal taste).

Regardless, this was an enjoyable read, and I think any fellow millennial out there will enjoy it.

#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #nonfiction #arcreview #netgalley #oneineamillennial #katekennedy #stmartinspress

I wasn't familiar with Kate Kennedy or her extremely popular podcast before picking up ONE IN A MILLENNIAL so i went in blind and was completely delighted. Kennedy has an incredible way of bringing nostalgia to life from the page, taking us millennials back to the early days of the internet, the love affairs with pop culture, and what it truly means to be a millennial women. I found it moving and funny, and while I probably would have gotten more out of the references if I had grown up in America, I still felt seen and had a great time taking a trip down memory lane with Kennedy. I was also very affected by her pregnancy journey, as I have been on a smilier path as Kennedy, and being seen in this surprising regard as well was just the icing on the cake.

Kate Kennedy speaks to my millennial SOUL.
This book is laugh-out-loud funny, very cleverly written, and filled with heart. The author’s poetic way with words elevates this work in a way I didn’t expect.
5 Stars.

As a millennial myself, albeit one with quite different life experiences than the author, I really enjoyed this book. While it is wordy at times, the word play and references (esp all the Taylor Swift lyrics) truly delighted me. Though I am a bit younger, am the eldest child to the author’s youngest, am short and fat compared to the author’s “plain and tall,” and was raised in California compared to the author’s Virginia, we still both were part of the same shared straight, cis middle-class white girl culture and liked many of the same things, from Limited Too to Spice Girls to boy bands, and who can forget the Forever 21 going out top. What’s more, the way she connected her past interests to her current musings on feminism, equality, and becoming an adult in American society were pretty insightful. The author knows that she represents just one type of lived experience and expresses that clearly. For me, the first sections of the book were perhaps the most fun to read, as chock-full of said references as they were, but I did also enjoy reading about her path to motherhood and her take on the “love-marriage-baby carriage pipeline” in the latter section as well. She doesn’t speak for every millennial, but I’ll take Kate Kennedy over Hannah Horvath any day (not a reference she makes, though she does appear to watch HBO, as she did give us Sex & the City allusions). I loved it,

One in a Millennial is a walk down memory lane for those of us like myself who were born in the mid 80s. There were so many instances that I related to, and so many little bits of pop culture that lived on the edge of my memory that were re awakened reading through this book. In that way, it was an enjoyable read and what I was expecting when I started this book.

That being said, it wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. I wanted more of the cultural zeitgeist of growing up as a millennial, and less of the personal stories that seemed to be repeated and not really fleshed out. I’m not sure I would read it again, but it was definitely worth the read the first time, if for nothing more than the nostalgia.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy.

Holy cow, if you are a 90's girl who is parched for a bubbly can of nostalgia, this is for you! Kennedy is your HS bff coming to remind you of the wonder, fascination, and sometimes disappointment that was the 90's. She goes into HS culture, popculture, movies, dating, college, etc. She has a charming and quirky way of words, sometimes to a fault. I found myself skimming the rambles every so often. However, I loved the walk down memory lane, and I even learned a bit about my own era that I'm happy to see is improving over time. Well worth the read!