Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an arc of One in Millennial by Kate Kennedy. Kate is a pop culture podcaster and this was her debut book. It’s part memoir and part discussing all parts of pop culture for millennials. I am not the right target audience for this book. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advance copy of One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy in exchange for this honest review. This one is available now for purchase!

As a proud millennial that lived during the best 2000s, this one was a walk down memory lane. Oh the nostalgia, I loved Kennedy's writing, and it was really easy to read and follow. I actually grabbed the audiobook to listen as I was following along, because I sensed this one would be amazing to listen to, and I definitely recommend if you're an audiobook fan - the inflection of the memories was wonderful, and took back to some of my favorite times. Naturally, if you're not a millennial, this one might not hit as hard.

Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for this review.

Oh, my Millennial heart. This book sent me straight back in time and had me reliving my childhood and teenage years. Everything Kate discussed from hanging at the mall and bouncing from Hollister to Natural Wonders, to American Girl dolls, to having a phone in your room and a house with an extra fridge, and even the college years discussing the going out tops and clothes. every bit of resonated with me.

Of course, this book is much more than a look back nostalgic Millennial culture, but rather essays about why Millennials are the way they are these days. It goes deep into body image, career choices, politics, feminism and much more.

I ended up listening to One in A Millennial in audio versus reading the book, and I found the essays to be much more enjoyable in that format. Possibly because she's a podcaster and she did a wonderful job narrating her book. I really found myself relating to a lot of what she discusses and loved that someone wrote a book about what it was like growing up as a female millennial and how it affects us today.

I recommend anyone who wants to understand the Millennial female in their lives to read this. While she only speaks for herself, it is easy to recognize most millennial women in her stories.

Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 50%. Her upbringing and mine were wildly different and not in a way that felt interesting. Did not capture my attention or interests.

This truly encapsulated 90's baby energy in such a brilliant and fun way. This was an incredibly nostalgic walk through life growing up as a millennial with Kate Kennedy -- I absolutely can't wait to chat with people about this one!

a book/memoir of the podcast Be There in Five by Kate Kennedy, which is hard to describe. it’s anxious basic white girl millennial chic, but make it self-reflective & thoughtful in a calming podcast voice. I love the podcast and loved this book. highlights include American Girl dolls, AIM, milky gel pens, & way more. at one point she even connects the Spice Girls to pumpkin spice lattes. Kate Kennedy’s attention to detail is incredible, & her writing is infused with a combination of nostalgia & reclaiming the ordinary experiences of ordinary basic white girl millennials by taking them seriously, all w/ a self-reflective eye toward whiteness & class privilege. notable quotation(s) toward the end: “battle cry of Entitled Spice… doing just ‘what you want, what you really really want’”; “it’s the shallow…pockets of life where I found the most meaning”; “I don’t feel like a victim, but rather the product of a time”

I didn’t go into this prepared to be sitting back, listening to basically my life story be told to me, but here I am. Sure there were small details different, but pretty much the whole time I was sitting here going “lol same”. This took me a while to listen to, but honestly, it was because some parts hit me right in my feels and I was getting emotional. Kate narrated this herself, which I loved. I absolutely adored it because she was real. You could hear her getting emotional over topics, and it felt absolutely right. I felt validated, and I felt seen. Overall, this is a great read (or listen!) for anyone trying to figure out why they might feel a certain type of way (I see you, Jesus Camp) or trying to get clues to the behavior of an entire generation.

It was fun to walk down memory lane with 'One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In'. I listened to this through Spotify and enjoyed hearing, Kate Kennedy, the author, narrate her own story.

I am not a millennial, but rather on the cusp of millennial / Gen-Z. So, I did get many of the references made throughout the book. I remember the days of going to the mall, playing with American Girl Dolls, and going to slumber parties. I too, also grew up in a generation that was heavily sexualized, and this definitely formed my own body insecurities. I idolized Disney stars like Hilary Duff, and binged episodes of the Rugrats.

Not only does Kate share all of these nostalgic memories, she also sheds light on other things.

Kate touched on many important topics from feminism, media-toxicity, privilege, reproductive rights, and so much more.

I did feel that some of the chapters dragged on, and the overall structure of the book was confusing. Suddenly we were talking about American Girl Dolls, and then we were talking about privilege (although I guess you had to have some privilege to afford accessories, clothes, and the dolls alone).

Overall, I did enjoy going back down memory lane, and it's clear that Kate remembers some of the best parts of growing up in the 90's / early 2000's. I say, lets bring the butterfly hairclips back!

I didn't want to give a star review here because it is a memoir and I want to respect the story told by Kate, so I gave a safe star rating! But overall, it was so much fun and it was so niche. If you're someone who lives as a proud millennial and has a lot of fun memories from your childhood and adolescence, you're gonna love this one!

What a great blast from the past. So witty and truly could not get enough of the references that brought back so much comfort from my childhood. It’s great and you will love it too!

So many laugh out loud moments and a great niche commentary on being a millennial woman. I was literally crying laughing at the parts about American Girl dolls.

I don’t think you understand the excitement and anticipation I have felt surrounding this book. As a certified Basic Millennial, I knew this book would speak to my pop-culture loving soul. What I DID NOT expect was to relate to it on, like, a molecular level. Some of Kate’s lines and observations hit so close to home it was almost scary. I genuinely had to walk away from the book because it was like I was reading from my own brain. Kate is the ultimate wordsmith and has written a book that I think many millennial women will relate to. This is one (along with Busy Phillips’ This Will Only Hurt a Little) I will revisit again and again…

Starting this review by saying that I love Kate Kennedy's podcast "Be There in Five" and this book was essentially an essay collection of podcast episodes. The writing comes across exactly the same as her podcast and she comes clearly through.

Kate immediately captured my attention by starting off the the zeitgeist of a millennial (of which I am) and Britney Spears (will always be my #1). I loved how she talked about American Girls, summer camp, boy bands, and bead lizards. I could relate to every single essay. However, this didn't really work for me. The essays were way too long, this book felt like 500 pages. I couldn't read them in a single sitting and the devolution of words and sentences was just too much for me to enjoy the second half of this book. Overall, I think these messages just work better in podcast form and needed a tighter editor.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! It made me laugh, made me cry, and made my elementary/middle/high school selves feel so seen and understood. I’m a fan of Kate Kennedy’s podcast and her writing comes off just like that- like talking to a friend, but you don’t need to like the podcast to like this. She touches on so many things that made us feel isolated as younger girls, but turns out were pretty universal/common experiences. It made me so proud to be a woman and to like the things I like with no shame. I loved this book and plan on gifting it to some friends as well.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I love Kate's podcast and was so happy she decided to write a book! As a member of GenZ, she has completely changed the way I think of millennial; I love them and as a youngest sibling, I have shared many cultural experiences with them. Such a unique idea for a book that was wonderfully executed. I love Kate and can't wait to see what she does next.

LOVED this book. We are very close in age and although everyone has different experiences this really hit on the quintessential millennial experience.

I love Kate's podcast and loved the book (and audiobook) just as much. The book adds value beyond the existing podcast episodes.

the millennial handbook we all needed!!! kate really gave us the space to be okay with where we’re at as millenals & it was nice to hear. this def felt more memoir than anything, but it didn’t take away for me at all.

I enjoyed this as a non fiction read (I usually stick to memoirs for non-fiction), as a millennial. There were some important topics and a lot of great nostalgia - did we all live the same life?!’ Have I had a unique human experience?! - but it was more dense than I thought, less enjoyable than I had desired. I appreciate the authors attention to important matters like body shaming and toxicity surrounding “the looks” we were brought up to achieve. I guess I was just looking for something a little lighter.

⭐️⭐️.5

I received an ARC through Netgalley. These are my true opinions.

I don’t think this book is marked correctly. It’s says it’s not a memoir but it definitely read like one.

All of the experiences in the book are personal to the author. I absolutely do not like to read non-fiction and this felt non-fiction to me. That is why it took me a very long time to get through this book. I had a very long time to read it prior to release but still finished it well after release.

The writing was good. Nothing wrong about the writing.

I grew up in the time frame that the author writes about so that is why I picked up this book, but I could not focus on it while reading because it felt like a memoir and not a story for someone trying to read a story of millennial fictional experiences.

I feel bad for the rating but this was marked as not a memoir but it felt like one reading it. Nonfiction is my least genre, I do not reach for books in that genre and this felt very non fiction even though it is not.

I did like some of the nostalgia I got from reading some parts.