Reading One in a Millennial the same week that I saw Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was such a treat! This book is chock full of pop culture references, 90s kid nostalgia, and, of course, Kate Kennedy’s signature wit.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for sending me an ARC! Looking forward to it hitting shelves next year!

Kate has written a book that I deeply relate to as a millennial woman. She breaks her story in to chapters that reflect different parts of her life and I was able to draw parallels to my own life through all of her chapters. Kate has a way with words and having been a fan of her social media presence and podcast, I am used to her long form way of presenting herself. Her word play is artistic and witty. Reading her book I could hear her voice in my head. It was like having a conversation with a friend. I think any woman would enjoy this book, but millennial women will feel a real kinship.

I was a teenager in the 80's so I loved the nostalgic vibes of this. The author has a strong voice which will inspire generations to come. With a keen eye and a flair towards the humorous. Will be buying multiple hard copies!!! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for making this ARC available

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

Full disclosure: I have never listened to Kate Kennedy’s podcast, nor had I any idea who she was before I requested this book on NetGalley. I was drawn by the cover (millennial pink, duh!), the title, and the hope that I would be able to relate to a fellow gal in my hotly-debated age bracket.

I must say, this book was EVERYTHING. I felt like I was talking to a younger version of me, or sitting with a girlfriend from my elementary days. It was so relatable and validated a lot of my life experiences! Kennedy grasped so much of the millennial experience and I loved every minute.

My one tiny tiny criticism is that some of the sentences felt a little long to me. Maybe that’s the teacher in me being picky, but aside from that, no notes.

While I had not known of Kate Kennedy beforehand, I can say I am a fan now. Thank you again for this awesome read!

I’ve always liked Kate Kennedy! She wrote a great book here. Funny and unique, inspiring. I enjoyed listening to her podcast and this was just as good.
I was born in the late 80’s so this book definitely applied to me.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc. My opinions are my own.

This was one of the best books I read this year. It was soo good that I can’t wait to buy in both hardcover and audiobook. Kate is the voice of a generation of women that have been silent for too long, while being described as too chatty. Her chapters about college years were the exact way I felt but didn’t have the vocabulary to express.

Kate Kennedy has an ability to capture the millennial zeitgeist in a way that only someone who lived through it could. As a millennial, I absolutely loved this, I felt like I knew Kate, she could have been one of my high school best friends. It was crazy to see how similar the millennial experience for all of us, even without smart phones, etc. and I felt like Kennedy perfectly captured with wit and humor the collective experience of being a millennial then and now (as we're all approaching, or already in, our 40's *gasp*).

Highly recommend for a dose of nostalgia that left an excellent aftertaste.

I have never heard of Kate Kennedy before so I walked in on this one blind.

I feel incredibly attacked in this book. As a 95 baby, even though I was born in the middle, I remember everything talked about in this book. I feel so old lol. I will be buying this when it comes out!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “We are two in a million,” -Me, jammin’ to my old S Club 7 CD, but also telling Kate Kennedy that I think we need to go to Claire’s for those BFF necklaces.

🥂𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓇𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽: Four Loko- before millenials abused them so hard they had to ban the drink in four states.

✍️ Good morning, millennials! If you listen to The Toast or were a huge fan of E! News in the Giuliana Rancic area, then you’ll adore this memoir that brings you right back to American Girl Dolls, Limited Too and that weird time where all the Disney Channel stars took purity pledges, but with some modern-day commentary from the woman who went viral after creating “Turn Your Straightener Off” welcome mats.

Kate Kennedy is the host of the Be There in Five podcast, but you don’t need any prior knowledge to appreciate her story. All you need is a birthdate ranging from 1981-1996 and a disposition that includes being fed up with people telling you that pop culture is a subpar form of entertainment. (VPR is the best show ever created and no one will convince me otherwise.) After all, men are hardly shamed for screaming at stronger, more handsome men on their television screens every Sunday when they place a ball in the correct location. Why should me screaming at Tom Sandoval for cheating on Ariana Madix with her best friend who we shall not name be any different?

Kennedy defies the assumption that girls who are obsessed with pop culture are airheads. Her rhetoric is intelligent, clever, witty, and she is hilarious with her spot-on word play. TBH, her writing is everything I aspire to be. My head may be as inflated as those kids in the Gushers commercials circa 1997, but she and I totally (for sure just for a manicure) have similar writing styles.

On a scale of (limited) Too to (s club) Seven, this book hits its peak at seven (feet) for its relatability, humor, vulnerability, and Taylor Swift references on just about every page.

I am not at all familiar with Kate Kennedy and/or her podcast… that being said I was excited to read this bc I heard a lot of great things about the nostalgia in this book.

Unfortunately this one was not for me. I feel like it was very long winded and the nostalgia part just did not hit for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy

This was the perfect blend of insightful, witty, and nostalgic. After just the first few chapters I felt more seen and understood than I have in years. There were little eureka moments as she identified things that happened now because of the ways we grew up. An absolute delight to read.

Reading this book was somewhat challenging for me, being just a year younger than Kate. I identify so personally with much of what she shared. The best writing is when Kate goes deep into an issue without the pop culture slang. She is spot on regarding so many things such as the fear of labels, misogyny, friendships, and milestones. The fun parts of the books that reminisce are great, and I had so many “OMG, I forgot all about that” moments while reading. Sometimes the word play did get to be a little much for me, though.

I loved this one! It is such a nostalgiac, personal, and critical look at what it means to have been a woman in the 90s/00s without feeling campy. Or, rather, campy in the good way. I really recommend to anyone who wants a little bit of pop culture history in their life!

All the nostalgia! I absolutely loved every moment of this book. It took me back to the good days when friends were everything and *NSYNC was life.

Such a fun and nostalgic read. Kennedy is a master of word-play and offers some excellent insights into the way millennials have been shaped by diet culture, feminism and the shifting media and corporate culture over the past few decades.

But she really shines when throwing it back to the memories of pop culture and trends from those days. A delightful reminder of all things slumber party, a time when the mall was THE destination and AIM away messages were the windows to our souls.

Now it might be time to declutter those 20-year old Vera Bradley bags living in storage downstairs.

This book was phenomenal! A blast from the past. I really enjoyed everything about this book and can’t wait to read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc of this book.

Kate Kennedy has an incredible ability to articulate millennial nostalgia in a way that lends depth and substance of so many things deemed trivial because they cater to the interests of young women. She explores how pop culture has shaped our generation for better and worse in a nuanced, often funny (always punny) way. Listeners of the podcast will find a lot of familiar ground, but in an even longer form.

Kate is a refreshing voice with a fresh take on the female ‘older’ millennial experience. As someone who straddles the ‘xennial’ line myself, her perspectives on purity culture, the emphasis on gaining male interest in the 2000s, our love affair with brand identification in the 90s and early aughts, as well as her personal reflections on her individual experience were like reading my own diaries from those times in my adolescence and early adulthood. Beyond excited to see what she writes next! In the meantime, I have her podcast, Be There in Five, to keep me company.

I have never related to a book more than I have this one. I loved this book and will definitely be sharing this with my millennial friends and patrons at the library.

I am a fan of Kate Kennedys work, and regularly listen to her podcast, so I was really excited to receive an advanced copy of her book, and overall really enjoyed it. I thought her writing was beautiful and thoughtful, and I appreciated how deeply she was able to dig into the unseen parts of pop culture, such as socioeconomics, generational changes, and patriarchy, and tie this to the life stages that women experience. I also love how she discusses research and brings it into the cultural zeitgeist. She reminds me of a science educator but for pop culture, which I mean as a compliment. The one part of this book that was difficult for me was the organization. Each chapter has several distinct sections and the through line for these sections was sometimes weak, making chapters difficult to follow at times. Her pop out sections also felt disjointed from the rest of the chapter at times, and I wonder if different visual organization, or just having more chapters would make this aspect of her book clearer and easier to read. I also could see the audiobook being easier to follow because Kate uses so much wordplay and is an incredible speaker which may translate better to an audiobook format. Overall, I enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to my friends and sisters. Thank you to netgalley and St Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.