Non-fiction isn't my first grab, but as a Millennial, I had to read this. It was a fun read bring back some memories that I had when I was younger.

One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In by Kate Kennedy is a witty and insightful collection of essays that taps into the heart of millennial life. Kennedy’s voice is authentic, humorous, and deeply relatable as she explores the challenges and joys of navigating adulthood, relationships, and the often misunderstood world of fangirl culture. With a blend of personal stories and pop culture references, she tackles topics like friendship, social media, and the pressures of fitting in with sharpness and vulnerability.

What makes this book stand out is Kennedy’s ability to balance humor with heartfelt reflections. Whether she’s diving into the complexities of female friendships or sharing her experiences of growing up in the digital age, her writing resonates with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider trying to find their place. One in a Millennial is an engaging, fun, and thoughtful read, perfect for millennials who want to laugh, reminisce, and feel seen in the ups and downs of modern life.

Kate, I'm not sure how you do it, but this book was like reading my diary. I've never felt more seen. I laughed, I cried, and I recommended it to all my friends.

Love love LOVED this read. It perfectly sums up growing up in the 2000s and the confusing culture that it is wrapped in. Its laugh out loud funny, tear jerking, and profoundly thought provoking. And to be honest, I didnt even know she had a podcast. I have since recommended this book to so many friends & will keep recommending it.

One in a Millennial was the perfect intersection of 2000s nostalgia meets tackling life as a female “adult” who is still figuring things out and I LOVED IT.
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While I am on the younger side of the millennial generation, I identified so much with young Kate in this collection of essays and again with 28 year old Kate who started her own business crafting (especially i#as I listened to this fully while working on my own small business) and all the versions of her in between. This book made me feel seen in ways I didn’t know I needed. I would say this is a good mix of memoir & cultural examination with a splash of humor all wrapped into one book
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I 1000% recommend this to any and all millennial women who love all things pop culture and often feel shocked by the realities of being a “grown up”

While I was able to relate to the majority of her lived experience being born in 1995 myself- I just did not find this very interesting. It was essentially just a reflection of the 90s things she did as a child. It was nostalgic to an extent, but I guess I just didn’t really see the point in this being written? Other than it being about her, I couldn’t figure out what I, as the reader, was supposed to take away from this.

Kate's writing is very familiar if you are a fan of her podcast or follow her on social media. Her voice is consistent through all mediums. While I loved some of the analogies, I was a little surprised at how it took me a while to get into this one. Maybe it was a wrong timing thing on my end. I think if you love pop-culture and enjoy Kate Kennedy, you'd like this one. I am wondering if I would have connected more on audio because her voice and tone might have made the experience more dynamic.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the advance copy!

Kate is an absolute wonder and her debut memoir is a beautiful, romantic love letter to the millennial woman.

Her core thesis is a reminder many of us need to hear - it's okay to be a little cringe as long as you are wholly yourself. Recommending this to all the girlies who need a little extra self love and 90s nostalgia!

What a fun nostalgic journey! I loved this book, as a 50 year old woman, it was like taking a Time Machine to the 90s and early 2000s!

The advertising of this book is very misleading, in my opinion, and I just didn’t vibe with it. I thought it was going to be a series of essays about growing up millennial and how the era we aged in influenced us. But, alas, this was very much just the author writing essays about her own life that I did not care about. I love pop culture and I love reminiscing on the pop culture of my youth, but just mentioning things from my youth will not make me nostalgic enough to read a full book on this.

There are three sections - Nineties, 2000s, and today - and I don’t think the author committed enough to them. The essays could have swapped sections and it wouldn’t have really mattered.

The author was pretty clever with her wordplay, twisting common phrases with millennial references. This was fun, but it got overdone after reading more than one essay.

I had never listened to the author’s podcast, and I am unsure if that would have improved my liking of it. Regardless, I got sick of it.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC! I wanted to love this more as a fan of Kate Kennedy. It unfortunately fell flat for me and left me feeling disengaged. I’m sure other readers will enjoy this!

I have been a longtime Kate Kennedy fan through her Podcast, Be There in Five, and found her deep dives (particularly the Mormon mom bloggers and the Call Her Daddy breakup) to be both extremely funny and extremely clever. So this, coupled with my elder millennial nostalgia, made this book a home run for me. I was a little too poor for an American Girl doll and trundle bed, but the nostalgia was there for me nonetheless. The author admits this in the beginning, but her prose is very sing-songy — which I loved at some points and at others found it distracting.

4 stars! Thank you NetGALLEY!

Amusing reading this one, how similar my experience was to Kate’s, growing up at the same time on opposite sides of the country. I appreciate the honesty she has in examining the tangles of the culture we tried to keep up with to feel normal, and the way she’s able to do that with a critical eye and gentleness towards our younger selves.

4⭐️

Funny, nostalgic, relatable, and thoroughly enjoyable. I had not previously listened to the author’s podcast, but this book made me want to tune in. It was really entertaining, well thought out, and hit on all the great 90s and early 2000s stuff I loved while commenting on what it was like to grow up in that era and enter adulthood as an industry destroying, avocado toast eating millennial.

I went into this thinking it might be a nostalgic, funny read and I just didn’t expect the direction it was headed. While parts were relatable as a millennial, I didn’t love the overall tone of the book. While, I appreciated the authors opinions, I didn’t love the depressing feeling of the overall book.

Thank you for this advanced reader copy. Where I felt this book was a bit long for the content, it was a great blast to the past for those of us who grew up in the 90s and the oughts.

Nostalgia, heart and so much more!!

As a millennial myself, this book hit home!! It was nice reliving the early 2000’s while reading this. I felt seen and heard for the first time in ages. I could totally see myself and Kate being friends!!

I would highly recommend this book to all my millennial friends!! 10 out of 10!!!

One that I wanted to love, but couldn't fully get into. The transitions between personal narrative and factual/statistical data were choppy, so it was difficult to get into the flow. Added at least half a star for the sheer nostalgia of it!

I could tell from the title and description that I would relate to this book. Little did I know just how much. Kate Kennedy and I might have been the same person at some points in our life. Although some of it was so relatable it made me cringe, it was also good to hear that others have felt the same way growing up as a millennial. A great ode to our past and present, and a more hopeful future.

Nora McInerny & her podcast, Terrible, Thanks for Asking, introduced me to Kate Kennedy & 𝘩𝘦𝘳 podcast, Be There in Five, in 2020 at a TTFA virtual live show. Kate is a “Chicago-based millennial, multihyphenate, author (OIAM isn’t her first book!), & pop-culture commentator,” & in her book she waxes poetic about girlhood & growing up a millennial. Her takes are a refreshing departure from the consistent shitting-on millennials often get from the mainstream media, with all the industries we’ve killed off (marmalade?!), & the fact that we’re supposedly lazy & entitled. While Kate defends us to the bitter end, she also brilliantly points out that we were raised for a world that no longer exists. Our generation straddles the technological divide, having had a mostly unplugged childhood only to enter college & beyond in a very digital world. I laughed out loud at the way Kate reminisced about vacation boyfriends, popular girl handwriting, & the art of going out versus going out-out, & I felt empathy for a younger version of myself who at times feigned interest in things I thought would make me look cooler than I felt.

Nothing like a hyper-specific book to make a girl think. So much of this hit uncomfortably close to home, triggered memories, and fostered reflection - and dare I say even a little bit of healing. This book is for a pretty particular audience, but if you are an elder millennial like me who loved (loves?) the Spice Girls and think a little too much about - well, everything - this might just be for you.