Hey there—look at you, finding me!
Welcome to my little corner of the internet. In case you stumbled in here looking for dessert recipes… sorry to disappoint. I’m J. (Jill) Bengtsson, author of The Cake Series. And while my books aren’t actually about cake (tragic, I know), they are rich, addictive, and occasionally leave you crying into a napkin.
So, what do I write? Contemporary love stories about 'real' people living extraordinary lives. You will root for them. You will love them. You will embrace their families as your own. But, most of all, you will remember them. My heroines are strong, nurturing, and quirky while my heroes are what dreams are made of—gorgeous, committed, and in need of a little saving. Set under the glittering lights of the West Coast entertainment industry, my novels are for the dreamer in all of us.
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WHAT LASTS
CAKE SERIES • PREQUEL
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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Grace Note
CAKE SERIES • BOOK SEVEN
I’m the privileged youngest child of the famous McKallister family. He’s a runaway foster kid living rough. We were never meant to meet. This is where our story begins. It’s nowhere near how it ends.
Grace
The beat. The cheers. The thrill of the unknown. I shouldn’t leave the safety of the music arena—my last name is McKallister, after all, and I’m intimately familiar with worst-case scenarios. But I’m drawn by the talent and the turmoil behind the weary eyes of the drummer on the streets. I’ve never seen anyone my age as wild and unrestrained, a lightning bolt of electricity that never hits the same spot on his bucket drums twice. He plays with such confidence, such rage. I have to know who he is and where he learned to bang out drum solos like he owns the night.
I want to help him. No, to save him. If only Rory will let me.
Rory
When I play, I’m in my element. I know how to draw a crowd and how to keep them riveted. For a small period of time every day, I’m special. Talented. Going somewhere. Little do they know I’m going back to nothing: no family, no friends, no roof over my head. When the music ends, I fade into the background like the undesirable I am. And then she shows up, so pretty and polished and pure. I don’t expect her to stay and talk. I definitely don’t expect her to sit down on the sidewalk and drum a song onto my thigh. Yet here she is—anyone’s ultimate dream girl—promising to save me.
Too bad Grace stumbled upon me a decade too late.
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RIPPLE EFFECT
DISASTER LOVE SERIES • BOOK TWO
A Seismic Attraction
When his mega-famous boy band AnyDayNow breaks up, international pop star RJ Contreras strikes out on his own. But when his solo career flops, RJ retreats to a no-frills apartment where he can hide out from the world and lick his festering wounds.
But when the girl next door starts slipping 'good neighbor' contracts under his door and complaining about his behavior through strategically placed Post-it-Notes, RJ snaps out of his self-absorbed melancholy to wage war.
Nothing short of an act of nature could repair the relationship between these two strong-willed enemies. But guess what Fate has in store?
Enemies to lovers tale with an earth-shaking twist!
FACEBOOK GROUP
I have a Facebook Page called the Banana Binder for readers who want a more behind the scenes look into the Cake Series.
As the name suggests, this is a lighthearted and enthusiastic group of Cake fans that freely share their input and ideas. We’d love to have you.