You're Not Special: A (Sort-of) Memoir

by Meghan Rienks

Overview

In her first-ever (sort of) memoir, the beloved actor and YouTube sensation gets personal about everything from mental health to drunken debaucheries.

As an only child raised in a town of less than 8,000 people and without a Starbucks in sight, Meghan Rienks has always been pretty good at entertaining herself. Then one day—cue the dramatic voiceover—her life changed forever.

On June 12th, 2010, Meghan was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Mono is basically just a really bad case of the flu, right? Wrong. To a party crazed sixteen-year-old, mono is social suicide. More than anything, it’s just plain boring. So, Meghan opened up her 2009 MacBook, used the webcam for something other than a bad Andy Warhol–style photobooth session, and recorded her first YouTube video. Since then, Meghan has shared the ups and downs of her life with the internet, documenting her teenage years for the whole world to see.

Now that she’s (mostly) through her awkward stage, Meghan’s here to tell you that it gets better. You’re not alone in the thoughts you think. Sometimes a bad hair day feels worse than a punch in the gut and asking a boy out seems about as difficult as achieving that perfect dewy glow. But despite what you’ve been told, your problems are not unique, your struggles have taken form in everybody else’s life too, and somebody else has felt the way you feel right at this very moment.

You’re not special. But you’re also not alone on the bumpy road to adulthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982110109
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Meghan Rienks is an actress and the creator of her own wildly popular comedy and lifestyle YouTube channel. Meghan flexes her acting muscles (and sometimes her real muscles) in a number of series, including Freakish, 12 Deadly Days of Christmas, Mr. Student Body President, and in her first feature film, The Honor List. As a social media tastemaker, Meghan has been named one of Teen Vogue’s Top 6 Instagram A-Listers and Allure’s Instagram Influencer of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Story of Me, Myself, and I 1

Dating

Chapter 1 Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Dating 13

Chapter 2 2005 Was a Great Year for Dating 22

Chapter 3 My First Heartbreak 28

Chapter 4 My Date with a GDI: The Worst Date Ever 55

Chapter 5 I Think I'm Allergic to You 73

Chapter 6 Pimp Yo Profile 86

Chapter 7 100 Things That Are Worse Than a Broken Heart 96

Friends and frenemies

Chapter 8 Toxic Friendships 103

Chapter 9 Bullies Should Dress Like Cruella de Vil … or Scar 113

Chapter 10 How to Make Friends 123

Chapter 11 "You Can't Sit with Us" Is No Longer a Funny Graphic T-Shirt 130

Growing up (ward)

Chapter 12 The First Time I Got Drunk 143

Chapter 13 10 Ways to Trick People into Thinking You Have Your Shit Together 158

Chapter 14 Confidence and Insecurities 163

Chapter 15 Self-Love 169

Chapter 16 Dealing with Failure 172

Chapter 17 And You Thought Trolls Lived Under Bridges 177

Chapter 18 A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Program on How to Give Zero Fucks 184

Chapter 19 Depression 190

Chapter 20 Anxiety 202

Chapter 21 Finding Your Own Family 219

Finding love and being happy

Chapter 22 Obligatory Chapter About Finding Love and Being Happy 249

Acknowledgments 277

Editorial Reviews

Rienks reassures fans that while ‘your problems are not unique...the upside is you're not alone.’ ... [A] brave, behind-the-webcam look at self-discovery.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2020-02-07
The creator of a popular YouTube channel makes her book debut.

When Rienks, a lifestyle vlogger and Instagram influencer, contracted mononucleosis as a teen, her mother, one of two “save-the-world bookworm” parents, suggested that she make a YouTube channel. Once anxious and insecure, the author found her niche. In this confessional mashup of memoir, self-help advice, mildly amusing lists (“100 Things That Are Worse Than a Broken Heart” or 40 ways not to break up with someone), and cutesy chapter titles (“Pimp Yo Profile,” “What To Do When Your Parents Kind of Suck”), Rienks reassures fans that while “your problems are not unique…the upside is you’re not alone.” Throughout the book, which is best taken in small doses, the author revisits the same handful of topics—parties, dating and sex, heartbreak, angst, depression, difficult friendships—from shifting angles, and the advice is often shopworn, obvious, or unhelpful—e.g., a chapter on confidence boils down to faking it until you make it. Underneath the buoyant performance and tongue-in-cheek vanity—“I can make an Oscar-worthy Tinder profile, formulate the perfect combination of cheeky yet engaging messages on Bumble, and can compose a seamless response to every text that leaves the recipient completely and totally enamored”—Rienks occasionally hits on genuinely gritty topics, including bullying, sexual assault, alcoholism, ADHD, and why she cut off contact with her mother (a rending portrayal of familial toxicity). Refreshingly, the author reinforces that it’s OK to seek help and that life often does get better. Rienks wisely stops short of drawing a direct line from specific traumas to depression, acknowledging that there are complex factors for why certain events can affect people's mental health. Rewardingly, the book ends with the author finding healthy love. Rienks’ existing audience will find the narrative to be a brave, behind-the-webcam look at self-discovery. Casual readers may dismiss it as an erratic chronicle of resilience.

For the fans.

Kirkus Reviews