PLEASE help the Author Team of "Sweetland Christmas Reflections" choose a cover for their soon to be released,10/29, series!

Arlene Smith looked up from the picture album she held in her hands and breathed a happy sigh. Even if it hadn’t started out so great, that had to be the most memorable Christmas since the beginning of time. Or at least the beginning of her time. And really? It had seemed like the end, but it had been just the beginning.
Things had been so different then. She’d only been seventeen—nearly forty years ago. She been Arlene Billings then.
Had she had any kind of premonition that Tuesday morning when it all started? If she did, she didn’t remember. Probably got up that late November morning and put on a pair of bell bottoms and a top. Maybe the turquoise blue pants and the bright pink sweater. The knit blouse was just a teeny bit too snug, but if she had a coat on, maybe Mom wouldn’t notice. She had to get some tape to get the cat hair off the clothes. Just couldn’t get away from Morris’s orange hair all over everything, but she loved her big furry friend.
The new guy, Jeff Collier. Dark wavy hair, deep obsidian eyes, and a motorcycle. Maybe that day he would look at her instead of Nancy Cole.

Arlene shook her head. I know, God. Vanity. Nancy Bowen was the prettiest girl in school. With her perfect figure and beautiful long blonde hair—never mind that it came from a bottle—all the guys looked at her. What hope could plain ol’ shy Arlene have in snagging a good-looking guy like Jeff Collier?
She had to admit the sweater looked good on her, though. Maybe…. She snuck some mascara and eye shadow into her purse. She’d put them on at school. Usually Arlene only wore some if she went out on a date. But if she just looked like her usual mousy self, Jeff Collier would never notice her among all the Sweetland high school girls. Why couldn’t she have had sandy-orange curly hair like Carolyn or blonde wavy hair like Nancy? Brown and straight was pretty much uninspiring.
It only took five minutes to walk to the school, and ten minutes to apply the makeup. She hurried out of the restroom and nearly tripped over the feet of the boy she’d primped for.
He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from dropping to the floor, and he grinned. “Falling for me, foxy girl?”
Foxy? He thought she was foxy! Her face burned, and she stammered out something stupid, she didn’t remember what.
He reached down and picked up the pink checked compact case she’d dropped. He tossed it up and caught it a few times. “Put on makeup in the school restroom all the time, or did you just do it today?”
“Just today,” Arlene managed to squeak. She fought the urge to feel if her hair had been messed up.
She held out her hand for her kit, but he kept hold of it. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your class.”
She beamed at him, but couldn’t say a word. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Which way?” he asked.
She pointed, and they walked down the hall together. Her heart felt as though it would pound right out of her chest.
“What are you doing after school? Want to go for a ride on my murder-cycle with me?”
“M-murder-cycle?”
He laughed, dark eyes not laughing. “It’s the present your folks buy you when they want to get rid of you.”
“Oh no! That can’t be true.”
“Can’t it? My mom and her newest husband shipped me off to my dad here, and he’s talking military schools. Nobody wants me. So what do they do? Buy me a motorcycle. For my eighteenth birthday.”


Which cover would you choose and why? What did you think of the reading sample for Volume One by Anne Baxter Campbell? Please leave a comment here on the blogpost or use the "Contact Form" on the sidebar! Thank you!