“To all the girls I loved before”

Ash Perez makes his fiction debut with, 'Speak Now,' a heartfelt audiobook rom com 

Ash Perez makes his fiction debut with ‘Speak Now,’ a funny and heartfelt audiobook rom-com about self-discovery, out today.

Perez is a writer, producer, director, and author. You may know him from his Buzzfeed era, his television writing for ‘Home Economics’ and ‘Good Trouble,’ or more recently, his creation of ‘New Guy Tries’ for 2nd Try TV, which follows his exploration of manhood as a newly-transitioned man. What you may not know is that Perez is also an avid rom-com lover. 

Hopping on Zoom with Perez, I couldn’t help but notice that his T-shirt read, “Everyone reads romance novels.”

Perez was quick to explain that he has always loved romantic comedies. “Rom coms are completely underrated as a genre, and I think that’s mainly because they cater to women or because women like to read them, and so they haven’t been taken as seriously. In my mind, a rom-com is like the purest form of fiction because at its core it’s just about love.” 

He further pointed out that many great stories, like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones,’ still have a love story at their core. Relationships are truly the center of so many beloved stories, and rom-coms are extra special given that they focus almost solely on the relationship elements. 

For Perez, ‘Speak Now’ has been a long time coming. The audiobook itself has been in the works since 2023. However, the actual story idea has been in development for the last six years. What began as a screenplay, similar to queer version of ‘My Best Friend's Wedding,’ has become a funny, thoughtful, and relatable story of first love. 

Perez laughed, explaining, “If my book had a dedication, it would be ‘to all the girls I loved before’ because it’s a mix of every bit of crush, romance, and long-term love that I’ve experienced in my life.” 

In the book, Alex Perez is a young chef on the cusp of all she’s ever wanted. However, she is forced to confront her first love when she is hired to cater her ex–best friend’s wedding. Throughout the tale, every character is holding something back that they should be saying, hence the title, ‘Speak Now.’

The audiobook is a powerful and deeply funny story of identity and queer joy. There are so many incredible stories that highlight the struggles of being queer, and we desperately need those stories. However, we also need the stories of queer joy and queer romance that end happily. We need the stories where the drama is relational, not societal, and that’s exactly what this book is.

“Maybe for a younger queer generation it will help them find that happy ending earlier for themselves because until you see yourself reflected in literature or media, it is harder to imagine that you might get to experience that kind of thing too,” Perez explained. 

Perez poured himself into the characters in this audiobook, bringing them to life in a visceral way. He explained that while Alex is the character he relates to most (Alex shares Perez’s last name after all), elements of himself can be seen in each character, and the writing process itself was a catharsis for Perez. 

“The writing process also became an uncovering of who I was at that specific point in my life, and it really felt like a love letter to my young queer self,” said Perez. 

Given the audiobook format, it presented a unique challenge to Perez, who has previously written for television. In film and television, montage without dialogue is regularly used, and in a book, prose is utilized. However, with an audiobook, it’s only what listeners can hear. That meant Perez needed to find a way to incorporate a voiceover throughout the story while keeping it fresh and interesting. He finally settled on having Alex use voice memos to talk about her feelings. Since she spent most of her time working in the kitchen as a chef, it made sense that her version of ‘journaling’ would be through voice notes, and it was a unique way to narrate without it bogging down the story. 

The audiobook stars Jena Malone (‘The Hunger Games,’ ‘Pride & Prejudice’) and Arienne Mandi (‘The L Word: Generation Q,’ ‘The Night Agent’). Both have backgrounds primarily in film and television, so shifting to the audiobook format was a change of pace, and they expertly added incredible depth to the characters. 

Perez was in the studio or on Zoom for every recording session, often closing his eyes and listening, similar to how audiences will be listening to the book. He explained, “Alex’s words are mine, but since transitioning, I no longer have access to that voice. Literally, as a performer, I can’t play that version of myself anymore, and so I could only bring her to life in a medium like an audiobook.”   

Audiobooks with full casts have become increasingly popular, including books like, ‘Fourth Wing,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ and many more. Now that Perez knows the ins and outs of audiobook writing and production, he hopes that he’ll have the opportunity to embark on another audiobook project someday. 

“This feels like a love letter to my high school self and my twenty-five-year-old self, and now I am excited as an author to see what I can explore now,” Perez said of this project.