What do you think?
Rate this book
Cora's Choice #5
Blood Bond
The bite of a vampire saved Cora Shaw’s life—but at the price of an eternal bond that gives him complete power over her mind and body. Dorian Thorne offers worldly riches, eternal youth, physical pleasure, and even a kind of happiness. But the vampire has already shown that he will change even Cora’s innermost thoughts when it suits him, so Cora knows she has everything to lose.Cora discovers that the bond may not be eternal, and she finds herself facing a to break the bond and resume her old life—or to keep it and choose Dorian at the risk of losing herself.
The bond, once broken, can never be repaired, so Cora is playing for keeps with the most important decision of her life. But each choice comes with its own terrible price.
The bond, once broken, can never be repaired, so Cora is playing for keeps with the most important decision of her life. But each choice comes with its own terrible price.
ebook
First published July 13, 2014
23 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
V.M. Black
52 books410 followersI write steamy paranormal romance, particularly vampire and shifter/werewolf right now. Check out my two free series starters, Life Blood and Taken. :)
I most often compare my work to Twilight meets 50 Shades (my vampires in Cora's Choice are more dark and angsty, and the S/M elements grow more and more pronounced as the series progresses), but the names that readers most often mention are Anne Rice and Sherrilyn Kenyon.
In Cora's Choice, Cora's Bond, and the following series, I wanted to show a heroine's journey from ordinary girl to someone super tough. This is a journey of months--years, even. So many stories start with an Anita Blake-type, able to kick ass and take names from the first we meet her. I thought it would be awesome and really interesting to show someone becoming that person through tiny changes that build on each other.
My world puts a different twist on everything from vampires (they're alive) to elves (aliens) and demons (interdimensional djinn). The Alpha's Captive series features a kickass heroine out of the gate, while Cora's Choice series--followed my Cora's Bond and others--has my "big" character story line.
Yes, there's an HEA. :) But the story keeps going on!
I most often compare my work to Twilight meets 50 Shades (my vampires in Cora's Choice are more dark and angsty, and the S/M elements grow more and more pronounced as the series progresses), but the names that readers most often mention are Anne Rice and Sherrilyn Kenyon.
In Cora's Choice, Cora's Bond, and the following series, I wanted to show a heroine's journey from ordinary girl to someone super tough. This is a journey of months--years, even. So many stories start with an Anita Blake-type, able to kick ass and take names from the first we meet her. I thought it would be awesome and really interesting to show someone becoming that person through tiny changes that build on each other.
My world puts a different twist on everything from vampires (they're alive) to elves (aliens) and demons (interdimensional djinn). The Alpha's Captive series features a kickass heroine out of the gate, while Cora's Choice series--followed my Cora's Bond and others--has my "big" character story line.
Yes, there's an HEA. :) But the story keeps going on!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 14, 2015
I hate Cora! She is such an ungrateful person and can only see her way as being an option. I can't imagine why Dorian wants her . Hopefully in the next book she won't be cheating.
November 4, 2014
Another Great book by V.M Black!!!
Fast paced and thrilling full of actions and hot scenes it captures your imaginations and you won't realise how time flew while reading it.
A really great job!
Fast paced and thrilling full of actions and hot scenes it captures your imaginations and you won't realise how time flew while reading it.
A really great job!
March 10, 2024
I just don't know. I still want to hate this, Cora is the most unimaginative character, no depth, and so utterly whiney but yet I keep reading.
November 25, 2014
I started reading this series on Scribd and have been devouring it the past month, it's quite good and has exceeded all my expectations (i.e. the covers made me a little leery...I'm sorry, I had to say it! :) ). I hope its ok, but I’m doing a rather blanket review of the first 5 installments here…
I have this little problem. I LOVE a good no-holds-barred steamy love story, but I cannot STAND romance books because the characters/plot almost always lack depth. Not a problem to be found here, and thank you!
Dorien is everything we want in a vampire and more: dark, handsome, sophisticated, intelligent, rich, a leader in his community, absolutely infuriating, and by the way he’s out to revolutionize the vampire world as we know it…yes!
Cora is a brilliant university student who is struck by terminal cancer, and Dorian is her only hope for survival. She didn’t know exactly what she was signing up for when she chose a last resort one in one hundred chance for life (and let’s face it, even with all the facts, unless you’re maybe Gandhi, that’s the choice any of us would make). I relate to her, root for her, and care about her fate, which is a feat in a heroine I absolutely applaud!
The world and tribulations within Ms. Black has created is original without being utterly unrecognizable, something I very much appreciate in a fantasy tale. Basically, I’m hooked, and can’t wait to see how Cora will fight to navigate this brave new world without losing herself completely to it.
The short installment format is an interesting way to go, instead of a big long book. Each installment is a good story in of itself. The only bad part is that it leaves you wanting MORE at the end. :) A++!
I have this little problem. I LOVE a good no-holds-barred steamy love story, but I cannot STAND romance books because the characters/plot almost always lack depth. Not a problem to be found here, and thank you!
Dorien is everything we want in a vampire and more: dark, handsome, sophisticated, intelligent, rich, a leader in his community, absolutely infuriating, and by the way he’s out to revolutionize the vampire world as we know it…yes!
Cora is a brilliant university student who is struck by terminal cancer, and Dorian is her only hope for survival. She didn’t know exactly what she was signing up for when she chose a last resort one in one hundred chance for life (and let’s face it, even with all the facts, unless you’re maybe Gandhi, that’s the choice any of us would make). I relate to her, root for her, and care about her fate, which is a feat in a heroine I absolutely applaud!
The world and tribulations within Ms. Black has created is original without being utterly unrecognizable, something I very much appreciate in a fantasy tale. Basically, I’m hooked, and can’t wait to see how Cora will fight to navigate this brave new world without losing herself completely to it.
The short installment format is an interesting way to go, instead of a big long book. Each installment is a good story in of itself. The only bad part is that it leaves you wanting MORE at the end. :) A++!
December 29, 2014
Cora has a decision to make, what does she want? I didn't like how she talked to Clarissa about meeting Geoff, how she called him her boyfriend, it felt disrespectful to me. I know why she did it but I did not like it. I did not enjoy reading about her meeting up with Lisette and Geoff, and Cora and him holding hands felt so childish and I felt no connection with these two, no passion. I did not care for some of ehr choices in this book but I was happy with the decision she made in regards to him that night. Lisette got on my nerves, pushing to know what happened and for something to happen. I loved the scene at her Gramma's house, how Dorian came because he thought she was hurt and I love how he promised her then and there that he would not change her even if she asked him to. I love when she says "Just kiss me" I whispered. "Kiss me now" and he does. She has on his necklace which says more then she is willing to admit. We got to learn about Cora's past in this book, about her parents and more about Dorian and even about how Cora has changed how he was living his life. We also learn about a close friend of Dorian's, what she sacrificed, and how it motivated Dorian. I like how Cora was willing to look at her "dreams" and make sure they were even her dreams, or were they the dreams her Gramma had for her, she had to find out what she truly wanted. The sex scenes in this book were smoking hot, I don't even know what to say lol.
March 6, 2015
Each choice comes with a terrible price - break the bond or choose Dorian but it is one that Cora will have to make in this sizzling installment of Cora’s Choice.
Finding out that the bond can be broken should have been a no-brainer type of choice – right? But to Cora it’s no such thing and the reader can’t help but get caught up in the emotional upheaval that Cora finds herself in especially as there is so much riding on this one important decision. One thing’s for certain the frequent red hot sex scenes in this story is would make that a difficult choice all on its own.
Once again the well written scenes and details brings the story to vibrant life and draws readers in and refuses to let go until they have read every last word of this emotionally and passionately charged romance. The strong compelling characters continue to grab the reader’s attention and Cora’s relationship with Geoff makes her decision even harder adding lots of spice to the story and I can’t wait to read the next one.
Finding out that the bond can be broken should have been a no-brainer type of choice – right? But to Cora it’s no such thing and the reader can’t help but get caught up in the emotional upheaval that Cora finds herself in especially as there is so much riding on this one important decision. One thing’s for certain the frequent red hot sex scenes in this story is would make that a difficult choice all on its own.
Once again the well written scenes and details brings the story to vibrant life and draws readers in and refuses to let go until they have read every last word of this emotionally and passionately charged romance. The strong compelling characters continue to grab the reader’s attention and Cora’s relationship with Geoff makes her decision even harder adding lots of spice to the story and I can’t wait to read the next one.
June 14, 2015
So this one annoyed me as much as the others. I love Dorian, the more I read about him, but Cora is still a weak, ridiculous, girl with no sense of reality.
I'm actually really angry with her friend Lisette, for this one:
"I'm sure that knowing you're going to be okay is a huge relief and everything, but you can't let that change who you are. You didn't let the cancer beat you. Don't let getting better mess with your hear, either."
Um...sure. So some girl who has no idea what cancer is or feels like, is trying to tell Cora how to live? What a great friend she's being.
Having had cancer, I hate this quote more than anything. When you get the diagnosis, you try to stay positive and make plans for what you'll do after you get better. It's a pipe-dream, a hope that you'll get through this. But once you find out you've survived, your whole future changes. Your view of the future is different and you learn that your pipe-dreams really aren't achievable or logical.
I'm actually really angry with her friend Lisette, for this one:
"I'm sure that knowing you're going to be okay is a huge relief and everything, but you can't let that change who you are. You didn't let the cancer beat you. Don't let getting better mess with your hear, either."
Um...sure. So some girl who has no idea what cancer is or feels like, is trying to tell Cora how to live? What a great friend she's being.
Having had cancer, I hate this quote more than anything. When you get the diagnosis, you try to stay positive and make plans for what you'll do after you get better. It's a pipe-dream, a hope that you'll get through this. But once you find out you've survived, your whole future changes. Your view of the future is different and you learn that your pipe-dreams really aren't achievable or logical.
September 22, 2017
Back and forth......
The entire issue of Cora's Choice has now been the bulk of this storyline long enough. She wants to be a grad student. Got it. She doesn't trust mind control. Got it. How many more pages are going to repeat her belief that being a grad student, job, husband, house, kids are the ONLY way to be happy? It was her Gramma's wish. She was suppose to die. Was that in the grand plan? I hope she really has made her choice in the first pages of this next Novella. Seriously ! Last chapter looks like she has. But I am sure she is still going to question the mind control and changes she fears. I would be terrified NOT to grow up and mature in life. Without change, life would be dull as heck. That's called a normal life. I know Dorian has explained all this, but it's become redundant. It's clear he has a moral compass or he wouldn't have started his screening process in the first place.
The entire issue of Cora's Choice has now been the bulk of this storyline long enough. She wants to be a grad student. Got it. She doesn't trust mind control. Got it. How many more pages are going to repeat her belief that being a grad student, job, husband, house, kids are the ONLY way to be happy? It was her Gramma's wish. She was suppose to die. Was that in the grand plan? I hope she really has made her choice in the first pages of this next Novella. Seriously ! Last chapter looks like she has. But I am sure she is still going to question the mind control and changes she fears. I would be terrified NOT to grow up and mature in life. Without change, life would be dull as heck. That's called a normal life. I know Dorian has explained all this, but it's become redundant. It's clear he has a moral compass or he wouldn't have started his screening process in the first place.
November 8, 2014
I just finishing reading Rites of Blood: Cora's Choice, Books 4-6 and all I can say is this series is freaking AWESOME! In less than 4 days I've read the whole Cora's Choice Vampire Series (Books 1-6) and the only problem I had with reading this series it that I stayed up way to late reading.
Each book in this series has an excellent story-line that in intriguing and keeps you interested. Dorian and Cora have chemistry that leaps off the page. Their physical attraction is white hot, their desire for each other an unstoppable force of nature.
The whole Cora's Choice series and twists and turns and keeps you guessing right up to the end. V.M. Black had me on an emotional roller coaster and on edge till the very end. Each story in this series are pain and pleasure, lust and passion. These stories will suck you in and keep you interested, wanting more.
October 1, 2015
This review is based on the last two books in this serial, books 5 and 6. I believe the series continues under a little different title.
I enjoyed many aspects of this serial, however found myself losing interest around book 5. Cora spent an inordinate amount of time inner musing and talking herself into and out of everything. I was beginning to tire of her and would have enjoyed a different point of view, such as Dorian.
I was also tired of all the sex. I know, it's a fine art these erotic books, there is a point where it can become too much and that's where I was with it. I found myself skimming the sex scenes and the inner musings. That left me with very little book to read.
I have also decided serials are not for me and just don't care enough about these characters to continue. However, if you are looking for a prolonged erotic vampire romance, you will love this one!
I enjoyed many aspects of this serial, however found myself losing interest around book 5. Cora spent an inordinate amount of time inner musing and talking herself into and out of everything. I was beginning to tire of her and would have enjoyed a different point of view, such as Dorian.
I was also tired of all the sex. I know, it's a fine art these erotic books, there is a point where it can become too much and that's where I was with it. I found myself skimming the sex scenes and the inner musings. That left me with very little book to read.
I have also decided serials are not for me and just don't care enough about these characters to continue. However, if you are looking for a prolonged erotic vampire romance, you will love this one!
November 7, 2014
Cora is undecided what she wants to do about her bonding to Dorian. She decides to go on a date with Geoff to see if they could pick up where they left off before she became sick. Even when she was with Geoff her mind keep traveling back to Dorian. She thinks if she breaks the bond that she will not feel this intense attraction or lust she feels for Dorian. If she breaks the bond there are no second chances you can't go back ever. Dorian comes to her after her melt down in her grandmothers house to make sure she's ok. All she wants is for Dorian to tell her the truth about his world and not leaves her in the dark of danger around her.
August 25, 2014
My oh my. This is definitely my favorite episode of the series so far. It was chock full of yumminess via Dorian. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Cora definitely goes through a wishy-washy phase in this book, but I think Dorian came out on top...pun intended.
We see a good bit of Geoff in the beginning. As far as I'm concerned, it's like, Geoff who? There is no Geoff, but there is an Adonis named Dorian.
If you haven't started the series yet, I recommend you do so. It's so good.
Cora definitely goes through a wishy-washy phase in this book, but I think Dorian came out on top...pun intended.
We see a good bit of Geoff in the beginning. As far as I'm concerned, it's like, Geoff who? There is no Geoff, but there is an Adonis named Dorian.
If you haven't started the series yet, I recommend you do so. It's so good.
March 7, 2016
I am completely amazed how this story slowly unfolds and the twists that are within it. Cora finds hove she could brake her bond with Dorian, and she is seriously thinking of doing so.
I will bi short this time, i am eager to start reading next book, i think there is much more to be unfolded in this books.
This series is like a drug to me i just must read them.
I like how the vampires are shown both sides, bad an god ones.
I will bi short this time, i am eager to start reading next book, i think there is much more to be unfolded in this books.
This series is like a drug to me i just must read them.
I like how the vampires are shown both sides, bad an god ones.
September 4, 2014
This series is amazing. Take almost everything you thought you knew about vampires and throw it out the window. Now don't worry these are sparkling vampires. But the world they live in is divided and like humans some are good and some are bad. Only trouble is Cora is lost trying to figure out which is which and if she can live with what she has become.
December 15, 2014
Finished the 5th book in this series and it keeps getting better and sucking you more into this story every time. Again it start exactly where the 5th book ended which I love this about this book. Yet again I couldn't put it down till I finished it. I am now moving on the 6th book of this series and the last one and can't wait.
December 6, 2014
Deciding to become human again
Cora learns that there may be a way to break the bond and become human again. Will she? Does she want to? What will it cost her? Confusion is rampant is this book for Cora. She doesn't know what she really wants and if it’s even her who wants it. She learns not all things are as she believes. Well written and very entertaining to read.
Cora learns that there may be a way to break the bond and become human again. Will she? Does she want to? What will it cost her? Confusion is rampant is this book for Cora. She doesn't know what she really wants and if it’s even her who wants it. She learns not all things are as she believes. Well written and very entertaining to read.
January 30, 2015
My thought of this book is that Cora is pissing me off. She has this very wealthy and very good looking Vampire and thinking of betraying him just so she could go and date this Geoff that no human man can do to her what every woman wants a man to do. I hope after I read this next book that it will clear up my thoughts of Cora which right now is you stupid bitch.
August 9, 2014
I like the concept but all of this and the previous should have been one whole book.
September 3, 2014
Yep, still into this series which is definitely emphasised by having read them all in a row. Waiting for the next book to be released 16th September. ..
January 10, 2015
Good series
I've read all the books , still wish the author just did it in one book. Good sex scenes without being vulgar . Different view on vampires .
I've read all the books , still wish the author just did it in one book. Good sex scenes without being vulgar . Different view on vampires .
February 22, 2015
Not as interesting
This one dragged on and was hard to hold my interest, to many who t stories. I believe I will stop here and not purchase any more.
This one dragged on and was hard to hold my interest, to many who t stories. I believe I will stop here and not purchase any more.
April 10, 2015
2 stars
September 28, 2015
LOVED IT!!
I'm completely hooked. I can't read fast enough. As soon as I finish this review I'll be buying the final chapter, I can't wait!!
I'm completely hooked. I can't read fast enough. As soon as I finish this review I'll be buying the final chapter, I can't wait!!
November 20, 2015
Cora's Choice #5
Read:
November 19, 2015 - Kindle Edition
Read:
November 19, 2015 - Kindle Edition
August 24, 2016
Another rating: 3/10
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews