Casey Dembowski Shares the Heart Behind Her Stories and the Power of Second Chances

PHOTO: Author Casey Dembowski, celebrated for her emotionally rich novels and the Soundtracks of Love collection, reflects on storytelling and second chances. Credit: The Deerwood Company.

Writing Love, Loss, and Redemption in Fictional Worlds

Casey Dembowski discusses her journey from childhood writer to award-winning novelist, the emotional core of her stories, balancing writing with life, and how second chances shape her narrative world.

Casey Dembowski writes with the kind of emotional clarity and narrative intimacy that lingers long after the final page. With her acclaimed Soundtracks of Love collection and her evocative standalone, The First Love Myth, she has established herself as a master of character-driven fiction that pulses with heart, vulnerability, and authenticity. Her stories invite readers into deeply personal worlds, where every relationship—romantic, familial, or platonic—is layered with nuance, history, and the quiet ache of real life.

What sets Dembowski apart is not just her deft exploration of love and second chances, but her ability to craft characters who feel utterly real—flawed, funny, resilient, and deeply relatable. Whether navigating the tight-knit streets of a fictional small town or the emotional minefields of past heartbreak, her protagonists resonate with readers because they mirror our own hopes, regrets, and transformations. Each of her books exists within a shared universe that cleverly threads familiar faces and places into new narratives, offering a rich, interconnected reading experience.

In this interview, Dembowski shares insights into her creative process, the challenges behind her most ambitious work, and how she balances a full-time career with writing emotionally layered fiction. Her voice—like her novels—is warm, wise, and refreshingly candid. It’s a pleasure to feature this conversation with an author whose stories continue to strike a powerful chord with readers everywhere.

Casey Dembowski writes with emotional depth, crafting unforgettable characters and relationship-driven stories that leave readers both heartbroken and hopeful.

What inspired you to write your first full-length novel, and how did that experience shape your approach to future stories?

I’ve always been a writer, and from about 12-years-old on, I had notebooks upon notebooks of stories. My best friend and I spent all of high school writing a young adult fiction novel that ended up being about 500+ pages. Novel writing was always what I liked. I wasn’t a short story writer or reader. I loved digging into backstory and expanding a world and getting to see these characters grow long-term. I’m not sure there was a true moment of inspiration. It just was what I did and who I was – it’s who I still am.

When I decided to pursue my Master of Fine Arts degree, I knew I couldn’t hand in a portfolio of short stories. So, I requested to write a novel and my advisor agreed. That’s where I honed my craft and learned how to plot tightly and write to word count, and all the things I would need to be a professional novelist. In the end, my MFA thesis is the origin of what is now The Corey Effect.

How do you balance your day job in corporate marketing with writing emotionally rich stories?

I write in what I like to call the in-between. It’s pretty much always been that way for me. It might be a half hour here or an hour there or ten minutes. I became particularly good at writing in these short periods of time in graduate school. I was working two jobs and going to school full time with an hour commute each way. I learned to open my manuscript and get going quickly. I remember writing a few words on a break or standing at one of the clothes-folding tables at the laundromat waiting a load to finish. Those learned skills do me well now. I’m able to wake up before the family and get some writing in or spend a half hour before bed without needing too much of a routine or rhythm. Sometimes I wonder if I could even write if I had large, uninterrupted periods of time.

“Rewriting a whole novel is hard at any point, but creating three unique first-person voices took a lot of finesse.” — Casey Dembowski

Your books often focus on second chances and complicated relationships—what draws you to these themes?

I think this has a lot to do with the books and TV shows I read as a teen in the early aughts. I loved shows like Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, The OC, and Roswell. I read every Sarah Dessen book I could get my hands on. It was the era of the teen soap and the rom-com. These popular culture sentiments feed into my fiction and you’ll see a lot of references to these books and shows throughout all my books.

Second chance romance, in particular, gives me the space to explore coming of age moments and how deeply they can influence adult life on both the conscious and the subconscious level. In The Corey Effect, I loved crafting the dual timelines. Of getting to dig deep into the big teenage feelings and then seeing how those very moments made the main character, Andi, who she is in the present timeline.

How do you decide which characters from previous books make cameo appearances in new stories?

Deciding on the cameos is easy because of the axis I set the world of Soundtracks of Love on. The books are all connected, at the base level, by the fictional band Wilderness Weekend and the fictional magazines Deafening Silence and Talented. Every book, even those not directly in the Soundtracks of Love collection, are connected to the same universe by the band and the magazine.

When I started writing Get A Room, I had the idea in place and knew where I wanted the male main character to be at the beginning, and I thought, very early on, what if that male character is Hannah’s ex-boyfriend from When We’re Thirty. What if I give Brian a redemption arc and see where he is after Hannah left him. Because after Part 1 of When We’re Thirty, we do lose his story.

At that point, I knew that The Corey Effect was going to be book two, so it was really about how do I connect When We’re Thirty and The Corey Effect. What’s the thread? And I was able to weave Brian’s backstory into The Corey Effect, so that when you get to book three, you know how all these pieces fit together.

“Setting plays a huge role in each of my novels… it’s almost a character itself.” — Casey Dembowski

Which of your novels challenged you the most creatively, and why?

I think I’d have to say The First Love Myth. That novel, in particular, went through a lot, and it was really challenging at times. I wrote the initial draft early in the pandemic. I then rewrote the whole thing from third person/past tense into first person/present tense. Rewriting a whole novel is hard at any point, but having to create three unique first-person voices took a lot of finesse. I had also never written in present tense before. Unlike my romances where there are two distinct main characters whose plots are dependent, The First Love Myth has an arc for each sister as well as the overarching sister story of the book. The crafting of the novel for all these reasons really tested me creatively.

What role does setting play in your stories, particularly in small towns like Fairford?

Setting plays a huge role in each of my novels. I feel like the setting is always meant to almost be a character itself – whether it’s New York City or Philadelphia or fictional towns like Fairford and Ardena. I always try to pull in a bit of an “everyplace” setting, where it is unique enough to be engaging but universal enough that the reader feels comfortable.

In The Corey Effect, for example, Andi is always meant to be a fish out of water, so it was key that Fairford feel insular and, at times, like some place she could never fully become a part of. There are moments, especially in the past timeline, where you experience Andi become a true part of the town, and when that is ripped away, it’s all the more poignant because you’ve come to know and love the setting as much as she has.

“Always keep writing—even if it’s bad, even if no one will ever see it.” — Casey Dembowski

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to write emotionally layered relationship-driven fiction?

Read and watch everything you can – in your genre and out of it. Study how plots are paced, how characters develop, where subplots elevate the story, and where they pull away from it. And when you are done reading, read some more. And then write, even if it’s bad, even if no one will ever see it. Always keep writing.