72 Hours by Bella Jewel is a fast-paced, suspense-laden novel that pits two estranged lovers against a sadistic psychopath.

Lara and Noah's break up was acrimonious and despite Noah's best efforts to discuss what led to their split, Lara adamantly refuses to talk to him. So when they are kidnapped and left in the Florida swamp and told they have 72 hours to find their way out or they will die, will they be able to work together to save themselves? Or will Lara's lack of confidence and dislike of Noah hinder their efforts?

At one time, Lara was self-confident and fearless, but after a life defining loss, she is filled with self-loathing and her self-esteem is at an all time low. At the first sign of trouble with Noah, she bailed without giving him a chance to tell his side of the story and she has gone out of her way to avoid him in the months since. When she begins running into Noah in the days leading up to their kidnapping, she is surprised to realize she still cares for him, but will she give in his pleas to talk to him?

Noah is somewhat aggressive and heavy-handed in his attempts to reconnect with Lara. He still loves her and he would like nothing more than to explain the situation that led to Lara breaking up with him. After the kidnapping, Noah is harsh with Lara as he tries to get her focus on trying to find a way out of their predicament. Once he has convinced her to work with him, his attitude softens and he has a much easier time getting her to co-operate with him. If they are able to figure out a way to save themselves, is there any chance Noah will be able to salvage their relationship?

While the premise of 72 Hours is unique and interesting, poor character development and very irritating personality traits make it impossible to like or really connect with either Lara or Noah. Even in a life or death situation, Lara is incredibly whiny and virtually impossible to motivate to DO anything to save herself. Yes, she went through something awful at one time, but to have absolutely no self-preservation instincts after the kidnapping is just too hard to believe. Noah deserves a medal for finding the patience to put up with her and it is extremely difficult to understand why he still wants to be with her considering her ridiculous behavior.

Which brings us to the romance element of the storyline. Life or death situation. 72 hours to save themselves. And yet, Noah and Lara find the time to hook up couple of times. They also manage to have a heart to heart talk about what caused their break up. Suspension of disbelief is often a necessity when reading fiction, but the plot of 72 Hours is a little too far-fetched to believe.

Most of the novel is written from Lara's perspective, but there are also short passages from the killer's point of view. While it is obvious this person is quite troubled, these peeks into his mind are so ridiculous they really add nothing to the storyline.

72 Hours by Bella Jewel has plenty of action and the final resolution of Noah and Lara's horrific ordeal is quite satisfying. A little predictable but overall, an entertaining read that will appeal to fans of romantic suspense. ( )

More than just a psycho killer romantic suspense. The character development in the last 25% of the book is very well done! Lara really does undergo a lot of deep, emotional growth that is impactful! ( )

This is such a heart pounding, fast paced story that kept my attention. If I had the block of time, I would have read this in one sitting. What a scary situation that made me think of Criminal Minds or a movie. Very well written and brought out several emotions in me. ( )

72 HOURS by Bella Jewel is a book I feel I've read before, but it isn't. The basic concept has a broken romance couple captured by a crazed killer, brought to his private hunting preserve somewhere near Orlando, Florida, and told they have a 72 hour head start before they will be tracked and killed.
Lara was a very confidant young woman until her boldness when she and her grandmother were set upon by some rowdy teens. Grandma died and Lara blames herself. Noah, we don't find out much about him except he is very sexy and likes to say the word "fuck" every chance he gets. As a noun, verb, adjective and adverb, almost every sentence it seems..
They broke up because she caught him with a woman on his lap in his office, but it is all a misunderstanding. In this "romance" type of story there is always a misunderstanding. And one of the two will not speak to the other even though we all know that is what has to happen. So there is that level of predictability to the story.
The hunting action manages to bring to two together even though the psycho hunter never thought that the facing of adversity could be a unifying factor in any relationship. Bryce, the hunter is given no motivation to do anything to this couple so we are left to assume he is going to the trouble of years of prep work just because he likes to kill dysfunctional couples.
This isn't a romance because, well, there isn't any romance in it. It is hardly suspenseful because you can figure out what will happen in 90% of the story. That only leaves thriller to cover it, but the concepts behind the set-up are so thin that there is hardly any thrill to it.
On the plus side, my copy was double spaced and there is a great deal of short dialog used, so if you decide to read 72 HOURS it won't take you much time at all. ( )

This was such an entertaining book! I picked this book planning to read just a bit to get a feel for the story. Before I even knew what I happened, I had finished the entire book in a single afternoon. The whole concept behind this story is incredibly exciting and everything came together very well. I am so glad that I decided to give Bella Jewel's writing a try.

Lara and Noah used to be a couple but now they can't seem to even be able to talk to each other. Noah wants to talk and tries to get Lara to listen to him but she doesn't want anything to do with him. I have to admit that at the start of the book, I didn't really care for Noah or really Lara all that much. Lara's backstory was interesting so I was curious about her but Noah really was quite stalkerish at the start of the story.

Lara and Noah wake up and find themselves in the woods and learn that they have 72 hours before they are hunted. They finally have their talk and all as forgiven between each other and they work together to try to escape the wooded area they have found themselves in. They soon find a fence and decide that they need to prepare for their attacker.

Once they are in the woods, this is a pretty fast paced book. They are either planning in order to survive or actively working to evade the man who is trying to kill them. It was fun watching them work together to outsmart the killer and even when things calmed a bit there was always a bit of tension because you never knew when he would return.

This book was incredibly entertaining but there were some things that were very far fetched. This pair both seemed to be able to do some pretty amazing things despite some pretty serious injuries. In reality, they would not have stood any kind of chance against a man with weapons and years to plan. I understood this but to be honest, it didn't make me like the book any less. I keep thinking that every action movie that I have ever watched has some of these same unrealistic tendencies.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense looking for an action filled and fast paced story. I look forward to Bella Jewel's next romantic suspense novel.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. ( )