This book was right up my alley, I just love the have my fill of the swoon sometimes. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a sucker for the "I saw you and I just couldn't live without you", kind of romance. I liked that Mathias was all about Mairin. She's had it tough when it comes to her social life. It was hard for me to see how she put everyone else first, even to the detriment of her daily suffering. I really wanted her to stand up to queen bee Stephanie so much(kids can be so mean), but I understood her reasons for not doing that, as hard as it was for me. When Mathias comes into her life I hoped she would look out for herself finally and take a chance.

Mairin has a lot of willpower that most heroines/heroes eventually stray from in their respective stories. Shari Richardson didn't once made her stray from her personality or stance. For example, the girl can keep a secret. Mairin has prophetic dreams of the present and future and she had some kind of connection with Mathias that she dreamt of him and his violent and disturbing past every night. She never confessed this to a soul except for just a smidgen of it to her best friend Cecilia, who knows of Mairin's abilities, which grew throughout the story. And oh yeah, she had more secrets.

I liked Mathias immediately, he was sweet and completely drawn to Mairin. Even with what I knew about what he is, just like Mairin, there was no hope for me, I was taken in by this Vampire who hates the monster he has to be.

Mourning Sun was short and sweet, the story was unreal, even for a Vampire story. There were some surprises which made me anxious to see what new endeavors can be expected throughout the series. If your looking for something swoony, a taste of action(more to come, maybe)a little bit of angst, cheesy, but in the cutesy kind of way, and an example of unconditional love then you will love Mourning Sun. My only dislike was that it finished too quickly, but it was enough to lay the ground of whats to come. ( )

This felt, to me, like someone who read Twilight and KINDA liked it, but thought they could do better. Shari DOES do it better, but there were so many instances where it felt like she pulled full sentences FROM Twilight. Honestly. Imagine Twilight with a strong Bella and a non-abusive Edward. Oh... and make Jacob more feline. It was a good read and I'll probably read the follow-ups because I'm anal like that.

P.S. I've read reviews that say "If you are a fan of Twilight...", I'd like to rephrase that. If you were NOT a Twilight fan because of the underlying issues (flat Bella, abusive Edward, whine whine whine, sparkle and a few angel descriptions) then this book is probably going to sit better with you. ( )