5 stars for the first half of the story. One or two stars for the second half. The story is told almost entirely from the hero's POV with only a few scenes later in the book from the POV of anther male character. There is no POV from the heroine.

The first part of the story starts when they meet. He is 15 and she is 8. He is her protector and she considers him the end all and be all. They run away from home in order to protect her. The story is very interesting and riveting and full of pathos and feeling. It covers a period of about 8 months while they are on the run. He is a great character. He tries so hard to protect her and care for her and provide for her. Finally he finds a home for them with an ex cop in LA. I love books that actually start when the hero and heroine are children and this part of the book was superb.

Then the story shifts to 16 years later. A very lame murder mystery starts up when their benefactor is married. This is all just some goofy reason to keep the noble hero and heroine apart longer. She finally convinces him that they belong together and he finds out someone is out to kill him. So of course he has to leave her for her own good. When the mystery is finally solved you just go "huh?"

Dallas Schulze is very good at the relationship story but romantic suspense is evidently not her forte. She needed to just stick the relationship and find some other way to develop tension than a poorly plotted suspense element. I did like all the characters and wonder if John has his own book somewhere.

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