What Lasts by J. Bengtsson is live!

Oh, I loved this book! A funny, sexy, nostalgic read with an amazing love story spanning 20+ years. A prequel to the incredible Cake series, it’s the story of the McKallister parents – Scott and Michelle.

 

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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.

 

 

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Review

5 stars!

Oh, I loved this book! A funny, sexy, nostalgic read with an amazing love story spanning 20+ years. A prequel to the incredible Cake series, it’s the story of the McKallister parents – Scott and Michelle.

I am a mad fan of the Cake series. I adore the McKallister family and I couldn’t wait to go back to the very beginning to see how it all started. While this book is a gift for Cake fans, it also works beautifully as a starting point for new readers, offering an introduction to a truly unforgettable series that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Scott and Michelle meet as teenagers in the late 80s. She’s a good girl from a ludicrously wealthy family, weighed down by expectation, and he’s a metalhead surfer struggling to get by but living life on his own terms. When they meet by chance, Scott offers Michelle a taste of the fun and freedom she’s only ever dreamed of — and she dives in.

“I like you,” she said. “More than I should.”
“I like you.” I shot back. “Exactly the right amount.”

“Michelle, I know you’re the one. You and me, we’re going to do great things together. I can feel it.”

This book follows Scott and Michelle from their first meeting, through falling in love, fighting for each other in hard times, building their family, and facing the tragedy that leaves a devastating mark on them all and becomes the foundation for the rest of the series. It’s a rollercoaster of laughs, love and romantic bliss, with heartwrenching moments that brought tears to my eyes and hurt to read. We see and feel it all, and my heart was with them through every moment.

“I didn’t lose anything by choosing you, Scott. I gained everything”

Through it all, we see their strengths and vulnerabilities, how they bring out the best in each other, and the enduring bond that carries them through, and God, I love them! They have some hard times, but they love each other through it all, working hard for each other and maintaining the playfulness that is such a huge part of the family dynamic.

“We’re in this together, aren’t we?”
“Michelle.” His fingers found mine and he squeezed. “After what we’ve been through, no one else will want us.”

I loved the nostalgia – not only revisiting the ease and slower pace of the 80s and 90s and the fabulously fun pop culture references of the time, but also being back with the McKallisters. I love this family, and this series so much. Reading where it all began, and those life-changing years for the family makes me want to dive into yet another reread of the whole series.

Such a great read, I loved it – 5 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.

 

Cake 

 

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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.

 

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