J. Bengtsson has revealed the cover for What Lasts!

A standalone love story set in the 80s, this book is also a prequel to the incredible Cake series and tells the story of Scott and Michelle McKallister

 

Releasing April 13, 2026

Amazon  |  Audio coming soon

 

 

Cover Designer: Okay Creations

 

---

Blurb

Falling in love is the easy part.

It’s the late 80s when wealthy East Coast socialite Michelle Carver meets Scott McKallister, sun-crusted California local and frontman of an underground heavy metal band who flirts like he’s got nothing to lose. It’s instant chemistry. And when Scott promises a night she’ll have to lie about later, Michelle can’t resist.

“From the day I met Scott, life asked me to choose.”

Michelle’s status-obsessed family has plans for her that don’t include marrying down. When the secret romance is discovered, Michelle must decide between the future she was raised for and the man she’d risk everything to keep. Their story ends the way every romance promises: with a happily ever after.

But that was only the beginning.

Told across multiple eras, What Lasts is a story about love that survives beyond the honeymoon phase: when kids arrive, money gets tight, and real life moves in. Marriage isn’t about finding “the one,” or even learning to pee with the door wide open. It’s about choosing the same person, again and again. Scott and Michelle think they’ve figured that part out…
…until the day one of their children doesn’t come home.

 

Add to Goodreads

 

Cake 

 

---

About J. Bengtsson

J. (Jill) Bengtsson is the bestselling author of the Cake Series. She writes contemporary novels focused on love, humor, passion, and family. Her heroines are strong, nurturing, and quirky while her heroes are what dreams are made of – gorgeous, committed, and in need of a little saving. A native Californian, Jill’s novels are set under the glittering lights of the West Coast entertainment industry.

They are for the dreamer in all of us.

Jill resides in Ventura County, California. She’s married to the Swedish boy she met as an exchange student her junior year in college and they have three children, a golden retriever, and two ragdoll cats.

 

Facebook Group  |  Facebook Page  |  Instagram  |  Amazon  |  Bookbub  |  Goodreads

Website  |   Twitter  |  TikTok  |  Newsletter