Brian Fortune has closed his heart to forever love. Emmaline's boyfriend left her pregnant. Then a simple kiss flares hot and heavy on New Year's Eve at the stroke of midnight. Despite that it might have just stayed that way, but an antique horse sculpture gifted to Brian's brother takes him to Emmaline's antique store. They decide to scratch the itch and short term. After all Emmaline will be a mother soon and Brian will be leaving to go back to his job in New York.
Best laid plans and all but soon they're both falling in love as Emmaline and Brian spend time with each other and with Brian's twin nephews. There is definitely not a future despite Brian's cousin's talk about soul mates and all. Except true love has a way of finding a path even if that path takes Emmaline to the hospital.
A sweet holiday romance that I enjoyed immensely.

Brian Fortune, a confirmed bachelor is home for his brother’s wedding and to help babysit his brother’s twins while they are on their honeymoon. He loves the boys but is not really a “kid” person he keeps telling himself. This visit is short term, and he will soon be back to his bachelor ways when he leaves Rambling Rose, Texas. When he spies a beautiful red head and ends up sharing a kiss with her, his whole world is about to be turned upside down. When Brian teams up with Emmaline, the alluring red head to solve a mystery surrounding one of the wedding gifts, what is supposed to be a casual, couple week fling turns complicated, especially when he finds out she is also pregnant with someone else’s child.

What a great start to the Fortune’s of Texas: The Wedding Gift series. It is a romance, but with a touch of mystery and intrigue as we follow the clues of the mysterious wedding gift. We also get to visit with the Fortune family which is always a joy. The twin boys steal our hearts once again and I am excited to see which couple will be in the next book in the series. Harlequin Publishing provided me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review, so I must take a moment to say thank you to them and the author Michelle Major.

~~~ I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

Michelle Major is a new-to-me author, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read one of her books- and look forward to reading more in the future. Their New Year's Beginning is a cute, HEA, romance story following Emmaline and Brian. It takes place in Texas and follows the Fortune family, I'm assuming are characters from another of Major's Texas series. Brian Fortune is a typical bachelor, while Emmaline is undergoing huge life changes as she faces life as a single mother. They meet at a party and hit if off and decide on a casual relationship until Brian leaves Texas to return to New York. However, as you can guess, they catch deeper feelings! This is a nice story of trust, family, and love. It was a lovely book to start out the New Year with. I definitely recommend the book as well as the author!

Antique store owner Emmaline lives a quiet life. The last thing she wants is to become the subject of gossip. It doesn't help that her mother keeps telling her she'll be shunned if anyone finds out she's pregnant, with no husband in sight.

When Brian rediscovers the beauty he kissed on New Year's Eve, he's eager to get to know her better. And he's got an excuse: he needs her help discovering the provenance of a wedding gift sent to his brother. But is he ready for the complications of dating a soon-to-be single mom?

This book is so lovely. It's got a strong family feel, and Emmaline's got a supportive friend circle as well. She doesn't let herself be cowed by her mother, and Brian really steps up to give her what she needs. The little mystery about the statue adds to the conflict and keeps the pages turning. It's a good choice to celebrate the new year.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Great romance coupled with an unsolved mystery

The entire Fortune family gathers for the New Year's wedding of five couples, during which Brian meets Emmaline, though he wasn't able to remember enough to find her later. Thankfully, she runs the local antique shop where Brian goes for help in tracking down a mysterious wedding gift that was sent anonymously.

Their romance is a bit unusual, since she's carrying the child of her deadbeat ex and her mother is always on hand to remind her of the consequences of her mistakes. Still, Brian only sees the positives and gives Emmaline the confidence to tune out the rest of the noise and focus on the blessings to come. This right here makes this a wonderful romance all by itself. Their HEA was delightful; I always love watching a confirmed bachelor succumb to the irresistible draw of a family.

I was a bit disappointed to find that the mystery of the wedding gift was left completely hanging; I subsequently learned that this is the first in a series (each book by a different author) subtitled "The Wedding Gift," so I'm assuming that the details of this gift will be unveiled a little at a time across the future books, currently listed as six according to Goodreads. If that's the kind of adventure you're looking for, this is a nice book to start with. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

This is a good book. I love anything that Michelle Major writes. The two main characters are Emmaline and Brian. They meet on New Years Eve, they kiss, then Emmaline leaves. Emmaline is pregnant, that doesn’t bother Brian. They have some issues they both need to work out, together they figure out what needs to do and fall in love.

This is a Romance, and this is the first book in The Fortunes of Texas: The Wedding Gift series. I had a problem connecting to the characters in this book because the point of view that this book is told in. I ended up DNFing this book around the 50% mark of this book. In my opinion because I had trouble connecting to the characters the story just did not pull me into it, so I just ended not caring about the book. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

I was not aware when I requested this book from NetGalley that heroine is pregnant with OM’s child. Unfortunately that is one of my pet peeves in romances but given that the Publisher/Author granted me a free copy for an honest review, I felt I owed it to them to read it and give my thoughts.

So heroine (Emmaline) is six months pregnant with her ex’s baby who doesn’t want anything to do with either one of them. Brian (hero) came home for his twin brother’s (Brady) wedding. This is part of a series and if you haven’t read them before, it does gets a bit confusing to figure out who is who but not so much that it bothered me. To be honest, I read a few of side character’s stories but it has been years and the timeline in this current story didn’t always jive with timeline of past. But anyhoo…..

Brian has been hurt in the past by his college sweetheart and is a lone wolf in his family who all seem to have found their soulmates. When he & Emmaline meet, he is not aware at first that she is pregnant and when he finds out, he is shocked but sort of okay with it. And so their story begins and ends in HEA.