Review
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Title: A Modest Proposal
Author: Michele Ashman Bell
Publisher: Covenant Communication
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2008
Number of Pages: 373
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59811-542-0
Price: $15.95

Reviewed by Karen Hamilton

Lauryn Alexander is a designer with a dream of creating modest formal and evening gowns. She has the talent and the ability, what she lacks is the opportunity and the courage to attain her dream. Currently Lauryn is designing for one of the top fashion companies in New York City. While not her dream job, it does allow her to design modest clothing; it is kind of hard to design skimpy outer wear.

On her way to Utah for the Butterfly Girls reunion, she is inspired to follow her dream by Caroline Nottingham. Caroline also commissions Lauryn to design her a gown for a business event in Zurich. Lauryn is thrilled and is ready to conquer the world, at least the fashion part of it.

At a hotel in St. George she meets her high school friends, the others who belong to the Butterfly Girls Club. They are excited to be together and to open "the box." This is how they have chosen to remember one friend who died just before they graduated. Each of the girls put something in the box and it ties all of them together. As the box is opened and the contents are pored over, the memories of high school come rushing back.

This year’s reunion is a little different for Lauryn than those of the past. This is the year that she is turning thirty and is still single. While in high school she promised Jace, her best male friend, that if she wasn’t married by the time she was thirty she would meet him on the steps of the temple and they would get married. Now she is wondering if he remembers and if he does will he show up.

Once Lauryn returns to New York, she is swept up in planning a fashion show with the young women of her ward. The purpose is to show that it is possible to be modest and still look wonderful. With a friend from work the fashion show grows from simple to a major production overnight. Lauryn thinks that this is all she can handle at one time. However, she is offered a chance to do evening wear for a rival design house. Life gets hectic where a few weeks before it was dull.

As she gets ready for her first show, Lauryn begins to doubt the integrity of the house that she is working for. Little things bother her and she has a hard time piecing things together. As the show gets closer, Lauryn notices that her boss is doing his best to sabotage her show. There is one thing he forgot to take into account. Lauryn’s friends. The cavalry is called in and the show is planned and ready to go. Her dreams are coming true and items from her past have come forward and are resolving beautifully. The only thing that she is worried about is the show . . . and her love life.

This is an endearing story that showcases the strength of true friends and the value of following a worthwhile dream. This is a book that I am going to share with my daughter and eagerly await the next installment.