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.

Hiii! This book captures perfectly what it was like to be a teenager in the early 2000s and totally validates the plights of the millennial and GIRLHOOD! Kate is a girls girl.

I've enjoyed Kate's podcast for a while now and knew that her way with words alone would make this book great! I'm slightly younger than her target demographic, but I could still relate to much of the book. She provides space for thoughtful discussion on often trivialized topics, giving permission for us to enjoy things without second-guessing ourselves. Its a refreshing and fun read, definitely recommend the audio book too for the added spoken inflections that might not come through in just text.

While quite long winded at times, I found this book to be full of nostalgia and the author someone who would’ve seamlessly fit in with my friend group. Recommended for all millennials who had American Girl Dolls and angsty AIM away messages.

This was funny, witty, and had all the nostalgia. As a millennial female I loved being thrown back to all the wild and crazy things we obsessed over in our youth and definitely recommend if you fall in that category. However, this does read more memoir which isn’t how it was described/ marketed but I have zero regrets reading this.

Usually I pop onto NetGalley to do my reviews more or less as soon as I finish a book, but I marinated on this one a few days. I think, in the end... it wasn't for me?

Going back and reviewing the info, it's marketed as a 'commentary on millennial pop culture' but it was... a memoir of a person who was really into pop culture...? And not at all what that pop culture meant to... culture, and how it really affected those that grew up within its grasp.

Kate Kennedy (who I was wholly unfamiliar with prior to reading this book) is only about four-ish years younger than I am, but we experienced a lot of the same things -- in completely different ways. Reading Once in a Millennial was like listening to the little sister of a classmate talk a lot about pop culture of the time, thirty years later. And while that pop culture was really important and formative to all of us who grew up through it (especially us who were raised as girls as media "for girls" is continually undervalued) it really just didn't affect me the same way as it did her. I have fond memories of TGIF nights but the whole boy crazy phase skipped me (and then I turned out to be not straight and very strongly demiromantic/sexual bordering on the "a" part of the spectrum, so, the gap is real) and living my school age life around what boys may think of me just... completely passed me by. So I'm glad she called it "One in a Millennial" and explains it's her very personal experience living through the 90s (00s, and now) and it's fascinating how very different we who grew up in the same era are.

Also, unfortunately, I found the very "I got really into Hamilton during That Period and it obviously affects my writing" rhymes that happen SO OFTEN really distracting and it took away a lot of this reading experience for me. Same goes with the constant trying to see how she could work in every possible pun/play on words/reference as much as possible. I didn't like that! A play on words and a reference is so fun but when it happens SO MUCH it's just distracting and not as clever as it probably felt at the time.

So, not for me, but I can see how a lot of people roughly my age would probably like this a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for review!

An early DNF, I will not review any further due to the ongoing Speak Up SMP boycott on social media platforms.

Wow, this book was spot on and relatable af - I especially appreciate all the commentary on deep topics such as feminism, intersectionality, and the really horrendous misogynistic culture we come from, while also discussing more trivial topics such as popular girl handwriting and boy bands.

That being said, I did find the book WAY TOO LONG, and it was a bit unorganized and chaotic in its delivery. I also found rather then feeling nostalgic at times, it was just very sad.

I feel like I have to start by saying that I love Kate Kennedy’s podcast. I love the range of topics and find her tone and sense of humor very fun. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like that translated super well in print. I found that her fun wordplay (which I love in the context of her podcast) made for kind of a clunky reading experience, and even as a millennial myself, I struggled to get into some of the chapters. The book was at its best when Kate talked about herself vs. the universal “millennial” experience, and I would’ve loved more content about current pop culture (though I know that wasn’t the point of this book). It’s worth a read if you’re a millennial, but I’d probably recommend the audiobook based on my experience reading the physical book.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

A humorous and heart felt take on what it means to grow up as a millennial woman.

This was a little bit of mixed bag - I actually expected this to be a commentary on millennial culture and got what Kate Kennedy, the author, proclaimed this book isn’t - a memoir. Her commentary on her life, feminism and what it means to be a white woman with a whole lot of privilege was funny and achingly familiar at time, but not what I signed up for.

I think this has a specific niche audience (white girl, Lisa frank obsessed loved the spice girls in the most basic of ways type audience) - and not sure how well it would translate outside of the author’s huge, also niche instagram following.

Thanks in advance to Kate Kennedy, Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

When I posted my favorite book of each month from 2023, I got a few questions in my DMs about July’s entry: ONE IN A MILLENNIAL by Kate Kennedy. It felt a little like cheating when I put it on the list because I read an eARC in July in a few gulps while traveling (truly the perfect Amtrak + long drive to the beach companion) and the book finally hit stores yesterday, so it felt like the perfect time to share my long-awaited (by like, three people) review!

As a long-time fan of Kate Kennedy and her podcast, Be There In Five, I’m 99.9% certain that I let out an audible yelp when this eARC landed in my inbox. I had a pretty good feeling that I would be OBSESSED with this book.

Spoiler alert: I was & am obsessed.

ONE IN A MILLENNIAL is an essay collection revolving around pop culture and nostalgia, with a millennial-tinged view of coming of age and navigating the world. Some essays are a bit lighter, while others deal with topics like feminism, and privilege. While this is an essay collection, some of them do skew closer to memoir.

While I’m a bit younger than the intended audience of this book, there were SO many things in here that hit me with a wave of nostalgia (granted, it does not take much to make me feel this way, I feel nostalgic for the 80s when I watch Stranger Things and I was born in 1997). I mean, the discussion of AIM screen names inexplicably involving brand names in order to seem like a cool surfer girl? HELLO, I was quite literally Roxychick199 on AIM.

What I truly loved about this book was that it read EXACTLY like the way the podcast sounds. Kate gets long-winded sometimes (I say with love, as a fellow long-winded gal), and she can’t resist a tangent. I loved how these were delineated as mini essays within the larger pieces. While I’m a fast reader (and ended up reading this in just a few sittings), it’s actually a book that I’d suggest slowing down while reading so you can pick up on all of the inside jokes and pop culture references.

Admittedly, I know Kate Kennedy from her social media presence, but I have not listened to her podcast. That being said, I was excited to hear about her thoughts on Millennial culture, as I am a loud and proud member of the group. The book comprised of several essays that looked into how being a millennial affected the way in which Kennedy grew up, and I enjoyed it quite a lot! This read less like a memoir and more like an examination of a culture. Some of the parts of the book totally resonated with me (like the going OUT out parts) and there were several parts that were truly quite funny. It made me realize that I didn't have the most unique experience myself, as a lot of the topics she broached applied to me as well. The book did a get a bit wordy at times, which was my only critique. Overall, it was good to see the humor in things that I used to take seriously, and I appreciated how much heart Kennedy put into this examination of being a Millennial. I'm still proud to be born when I was, and applaud Kennedy on how she celebrated this specific age group.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

I am a big fan of Kate Kennedy and was very excited for this book. Was happy to see that she was able to translate her content so well into writing. I really enjoyed this book, it was both entertaining and poignant to me as part of her demographic, millenial women. Hope to see more from her.