Venom

The Dark Angel's MC #5

by Charlotte McGinlay

Venom
The club is my family, my life,
And nothing else mattered to me growing up.
I didn’t want a girl or an old lady to distract me,
I just wanted to have fun and be the best Road Captain,
To make my club proud, but more importantly, my Uncle proud,
And ensure he doesn’t regret choosing me to take his place.
But everywhere I looked, she was there,
Distracting me.
My sister’s best friend,
The bane of my existence.
She never spoke to me, always acting shifty,
Like a patch chaser using my sister to gain a brother's attention.
I was mean to her every chance I got,
Hoping she’d ditch my sister and leave my club alone,
Leave me alone.
She didn’t, though; if anything, she held on tighter,
And I started to see a new light in her.
She changed, became darker,
And I make it my sole responsibility to find out why,
Only to realize I wanted her,
To know I was in love with her.
But she’s closed off, the crush I didn’t realize she had gone,
And I know I have a fight on my hands to make her mine,
A fight I’m going to win, one way or another.
Get ready, Kitten, I’m coming for you.


Raya
Growing up, he was supposed to just be my best friend's brother,
Nothing more, nothing less,
But my heart didn’t listen to that logic.
I developed a crush that turned into love,
And every time I was in his vicinity, I became too shy to speak to him,
But he didn’t see me that way.
In his eyes, I was a menace, using his sister to get to him,
In his eyes, I was acting shifty and was a patch chaser.
Years I ignored his jabs, his insults,
Yet my crush never left, the love I held always in place,
Until I lost the most important person in my life.
I changed, the sweet, shy girl no longer in sight,
And the love I developed turned to hate.
I lost myself, too focused on my revenge for the person I lost,
While trying to follow in their footsteps,
Not expecting him to notice me slowly disappearing.
But he does, something clicks for him because suddenly,
Everywhere I am, he’s there,
Not willing to give up on the love I once held.
But that girl, she’s no longer around,
The revenge, the hate, is consuming, and I can’t be saved.
That doesn’t stop him from trying to save me, though….

This can be read as a standalone. It is book 5 of 5 of the Dark Angel’s MC series, with a HEA. Due to mature content and themes, this book is recommended for readers aged 18+; this novel may contain triggers.

Genres: Enemies To Lovers

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2025

Reviews

[Danny Lea]

DNF at 50%, but thin skimmed so no rating. The plot is just too ridiculous, and doesn't make sense Venom knows nothing of Raya's life as they live in the same damn place. I tried. Recycled plot as we get a rundown on all the previous couples which had me skipping. Raya works at the fire station, in law school, and is hunting and killing a gang that killed her dad. 🤦 Yes, Lil ol Raya is doing all that. The best thing about CM's books though are the the club whores always get comeuppance.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

SOME SPOILERS AND MUCH LIKE THIS WASTE OF SPACE, A CONVOLUTED REVIEW BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS SO CONVOLUTED! IF YOU'VE READ THIS AUTHOR BEFORE NO SPOILERS CAUSE IT'S THE SAME BAD STORY, WITH THE SAME GRAMMATICAL ERRORS AS ALWAYS, JUST CHANGE THE LEADS' NAMES.

1 STAR IS TOO MUCH! I have read other books by this author and while they're all OTT RIDICULOUS DRAMA and repetitious crap throughout, this one takes the cake for sheer trash! I think she has a 14 yo ghost writer! The author tries to write MC biker romance, but it's nowhere near what a MC would be like - 20 somethings running the club and their mothers running their lives in the club, with lots of tears, screaming and DRAMA! In this one the FL gets to unalive the ML's mother - how convenient! Usually these stories are so OTT stupid that you can laugh through it and this wasn't any different, but with less laughing and more eye-rolling!

It's the same old tired storyline where the ML is a disgusting idiot who thinks the FL is using his sister and after his patch! gimme a break - of course the FL is only a partial doormat in this one and the ML is only a partial manho (always a deranged club whore who the ML can't seem to shake loose!) In this one the club ho claims pregnancy & that she can't be terminated because she'll sue for unjust termination so the club lets her stay - WTF! sure, just say you're preggo and then you can sue a MOTORCYCLE CLUB WHO THEN KILLS YOU LATER IN THE BOOK *hahahahahahaha*)

The FL goes after the club that caused her father's death (but never lets the ML know her father is dead for some inane reason that only the author knows) & is raped at 15, but continues to kill off members by herself with little more than a steel pole & a knife. Hand to hand combat here beginning at 15.

Then the insane story continues with not much but filler & some sex & repeating of the same story & conversation over & over. The FL stops talking to all her friends too and goes into seclusion plotting her revenge! Also the FL is a firefighter, law student, and works part time while carrying out revenge executions all on her lonesome. After that this horrible couple get together, but alas, she must take out the real danger - the current leader of said gang - who rapes her (along with the pole she eventually kills him with). After that they all live happily ever after.

I don't know what more to write to make it clear HOW VERY BAD THIS BOOK IS! KU is the only way these books get read (except for the fan girls that give 4 & 5 star reviews for free books).

[Debbie DiFiore]

This series has made me swear to never read another biker MC romance. These were just disgusting really. I hated each and every hero in this series. None of them were even worthy to be called a hero. And these weren't remotely romantic. I need a lobotomy so I can forget I ever read them.

Just sad.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and Delicious

Throughout the whole series I wasn’t sure if Venom was redeemable…turns out he is my favourite.
Once he got his head on straight there was no stopping him.
And Raya, boy, what a strong Female.
There are alot of triggers in this book so beware, but totally worth it!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raya and Venom

I must say that I cried for parts of this book, and I love a book that can bring out all my emotions.

Raya has been through so much and Venom need to control his anger and stop putting saying all the wrong this. They manage to work everything out.

[Laur Laur · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really liked a few of this author's books but I just can't anymore.

I can handle rape in a book if it contributes to the storyline but every flipping heroine is brutally raped in this series and it almost makes the shock value worse cause it's like No! Not afuckingain! I quit reading at the second rape.

[BiblioDarling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating System (as of 8/14/2025):
⭐: It was a struggle to read. I almost DNF
⭐⭐: This could have been so much better.
⭐⭐⭐: Good/Average
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Great book. I will probably reread it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: I absolutely loved this book.
***********************************************************************
Triggers:
🚩Sexual Assault
🚩Violence
🚩Death of Parent
🚩Mental Health/Suicide Attempt
🚩On Page Death

Tropes:
💕Alpha Female
💕MC Romance
💕MF Romance
💕Misunderstanding
💕Best Friend's Brother
💕Grovel to HEA

Spice Level: 🔥🔥🔥

Spice Level Rating System (as of 9/4/25)
🔥: Clean. Handholding. Kissing.
🔥🔥: Non-Descriptive/Implied on Page Sex
🔥🔥🔥: Hot-Descriptive on Page Sex
🔥🔥🔥🔥: So Hot—Do Not Read in Public
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥: Oh My-BDSM. Blood Play. Smut.
************************************************************************
Summary:

This is book 5 in the series. I recommend you read these books in order.

FMC is best friends with the MMCs sister. MMC has never liked the FMC and has his own opinion of who she is and what she is after. He feels as if the FMC is using his sister. But what happens when all his preconceived notions are proved untrue. What happens when he has to face the fact that he fell in love with the FMC years ago and his bullying is really his way of keeping her away. HEA

Review:
This entire series has had me in a choke hold. Some of the books have been better than others. This is one of the books I had been waiting on. And I have to say it didn't disappoint. In fact, it had a few twists that surprised me.

I loved that the FMC was a strong woman who was dealing with her hurt in an unconventional way. I loved that the MMC realized how wrong he was about the FMC and was willing to realize how he truly felt about her. There were moments when I felt the story dragged a bit but then it would draw me back in. All in all, I would reread this book.
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[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry this one wasn't for me.

So far I read all of the books in this series and while some of the storylines we not to my liking, I still managed to enjoy all of the books. This one however was definitely one I didn't care too much for. Raya was a millionaire within her own right and could have easily just paid to have the Hyeans or even Hayden removed. She also could have had the club remove them as well. It made no sense the choices she made in the name of revenge that did not have to take 10 years to achieve. Venom was no better going all this time with Angel always using protection and the best he could come up with was he didn't release in her which is why she couldn't be pregnant. None of the characters had a fear of catching anything despite their lack of using protection. This was in my opinion the worst storyline because of Raya creating her own drama and trauma for absolutely nothing. Her Dad was never coming back and there was absolutely no need for her to get her hands dirty. The other issue I had was there was more time given to explaining what happened in the other books than what was actually needed. I literally had to skim so much of this book because the focus in most of the chapters was on the previous books and repeating the same issues the characters of those books had instead of what was going on with Venom and Raya. I honestly did not like this one.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew this book might be a little iffy, since in the beginning of book 2 of this series the main female character, Raya, was working part time as a dental hygienist then it switched to firefighter. So obviously this story wasn’t even really thought out when the series started.

It had the typical spelling, grammar, editing issues these books all seem to have. My biggest complaint is that the first 50% of the book is just rehashing the previous books. Makes it hard to even get to the main story.

Her revenge plan didn’t totally make sense, she saves the leader of the gang who killed her father for last, in what seems to kind of be a suicide mission, but doesn’t take out the guy who was the actual leader at the time her father died.

The author also didn’t seem to have a lot of knowledge on how firefighters actually operate which made those scenes unrealistic. And a second floor window is nailed shut, but by breaking out the pane she somehow has enough room to throw a mattress out it, climb threw and stand outside the window.

This book also really didn’t go Ivy any favors.

[Liz Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something was off about the entire series...

So, this was a good read, but like all the other books in this series, the women were idiots and the men lacked depth.

Spoilers ahead...
If you've read the series, you know most of what happened in this book. Raya wanted revenge on the gang that indirectly caused her father's death, and after that is where logic flew out the window yet again for one of the women in this series. All the women, except for Luna, have been complete idiots in this series. Not one of these women went to their men and said... hey, I've got a serious problem, can the brotherhood help? Raya was no exception. She put herself in harms way for the stupidest reason... just not wanting to tell Venom. Are you kidding me? The man just claimed you. Don't you think he would mountains for you? So, to find Hayden on her own... get taken and then wonder why she never told Venom, well, yeah, she's an idiot, period!

I wasn't happy with this series at all. I'm hoping the next one will be better.

[Margerm, Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 1/2 stars. Another reviewer verbalized my experience with this book. So much time was spent reviewing the traumatic events from previous books featuring the characters from an MC that the relationship between the H and h received superficial treatment. The H has viewed the h as a spoiled, rich patch chaser even though she lives in a modest house. Despite years of friendship with his sister, somehow the H doesn't know that the h's firefighter father died ten years ago while trying to save a child. Her father died on her fifteenth birthday. She vows to avenge his death by killing the members of the MC that set the fire. The h has had a crush on the H since her teen years but we're told, not so much shown, that the H has treated her cruelly. The h seems to have a bad case of BBS as she is intimate with the H several times when it doesn't make sense. The H is surprised to learn that the h is a firefighter and attends law school yet he's a tech wiz. How big is the town that he has so little knowledge of her life?

[Mr D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Gripping Read

Final book in the series about a handful of young men who grew up together in the Dark Angel’s MC to become the next generation of the club’s leadership. Unfortunately for them and their love interests they were all a bit emotionally stunted due to a slew of infidelity by their parents generation. That alongside everyone’s attitude towards the club girls as well as those “girls”/ women trying a myriad of ways to trap the bikers into relationships.

I’ve loved this series throughout, it deals with some hard hitting real life issues and situations. It’s been a little formulaic with several of the girls being reckless and occasionally downright silly which got to be frustrating. Despite that and some annoyingly persistent spelling/ editorial issues it’s well worth reading. A very well written series, I read them all back to back over a couple of days.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheating = Literally hours after being with the h for the first time, the H smashes, BARE/RAW, with OW/CW. h finds out about when standing in line at the grocery store...were they officially together? No, but H was only wanting to be with the h, so...up to you if you want to think it is or is not cheating.

MC = it's there, not a big part

OW drama = OW/CW claims to be pregnant by the H, but everyone knew it to be lie. Other OW includes H's mom and a different CW who is spying on the MC. Comeuppance? They all end up taking dirt naps.

SA/R = poor h is SA/R when she is 15 and again over a 4 or 5 day period in the "present" of the book. h eventually gets counseling, but it just seems that it is minimized and plot twists but no real in depth view into the impact of the h. h recovers quickly IMO, which is not really realistic, but its fiction, so take it with a grain of salt.

[Ann Small · Rating 5 out of 5]

venom + Raya

🔥 Venom & Raya have one of the most intense love-hate relationships I’ve read. The tension, the emotion, the push and pull…it’s chef’s kiss.

💋 Raya is such a strong FMC…fierce, loyal, and not afraid to stand her ground. She’s officially one of my favorites in this series.

⚠️ Yes, there are trigger warnings, but the story is so worth it. Venom himself? Absolutely yummy…tough but not scared to show emotion.

🌀 It’s part of the Dark Angel’s MC series, so you’ll notice some repetition, but the different POVs make it fresh and totally worth the read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — 5/5 from me. Dark, emotional, raw, and addictive.

[Miss Blaze]

Writing this as Im reading.

----

Okay... This one is a lil gross Lottie 🥺

The fact that she lets him fuck her the second time, bare, after what he did?
Come on now Charlotte, we women aren't that weak are we?

Atleast give some backbone and even out the shit, not saying h should get another dude or some shit like that because I know that's not your aim, but it has to be a lot harder for the H to just get in there again. Because ultimately is that something YOU would do?

---

I got to about 60% and now Im done.
I cant do it. I really tried but these h's are dumb ass doormats and it just annoys be ugh. I cant.

Timelines are skipped months ahead does not equal grovel.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Story but Editing issues aplenty

Slow start with the first 20% of the book spent giving us history details but picks up. A good story line, full of lots of action and angst, but ruined by mistakes and a really poor way of writing.

Some of the sentences are way too long, trying to give way too much information in one sentence. It makes it hard to read or understand.

I read the entire series and it’s something that is consistent throughout. The series are really good in terms of storyline but the editing seriously needs to be looked at.

I would love to read the other series by this author, maybe in the future as I just can’t take another series of poor editing.

[Angel W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raya and Venom have been fighting the attraction between them for years. He thinks the worse of her and she let's him. When he finally clears his thoughts she locks herself away from him and now he's mad. When he finds out some hard truths he knows he has a hars fight in front of him. Raya wants nothing buy revenge on the men that took her best friend from her and she is going to get it at all cost. When she finally gets it and it sends her spirling she has to lean on Venom to pull her back although she doesn't believe she deserves him now.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

You can't be a firefighter while in law school. Both demand too much of your time, as shown by FMC when she gets emergency calls constantly. I don't even know why she wants to go to law school. Is it just a shortcut to tell readers this FMC is smart.

Do not forgive a cheater if he cheats within hours of being with you. Dude is not capable of emotional regulation and control.

Also, how does anybody not know pretty much everything about others in this small town? Especially the death of a firefighter, one that MMC knew personally.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

good series, a lot of emotion, terrible editing

Would I recommend these books? Yes, for the stories. However, grammatical mistakes abound and it can be really annoying. The incorrect words are the worst, often causing a sentence reread to figure out what the author actually meant, and the missing articles, missing pronouns, misspellings (a published novel using to instead of too is just not cool), and also formatting issues detract from the story, so I can’t give the series more than 3 stars. A good edit and they’d be 4 stars.

[RONALD ROBERTSON · Rating 4 out of 5]

venom

The Mfc was badass, the mmc was an ass for years , then redeemed himself as all the brothers did in previous books. I’m guessing this is the last in series considering how it ended and no other brother drama during the book…. Looking forwarded to the next. Hoping for a high school/ Mc romance next. Either way I’m always down.
I’ll be stalking this author till another release, per usual !

[Christelle Ruiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enemies to lovers with a lot of triggers.
I liked this MC and their stories. I wasn’t too keen on Venom and Raya’s story to begin with but they surprised me. The story feels a bit repetitive as we get a lot of reminders to what happened to the previous characters but it’s part of the author’s MO.
It was a difficult read for some parts but overall I enjoyed it.
Now I can’t wait to read about the Rebels MC.

[🤍 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️’s

“𝓘’𝓶 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓰𝓸, 𝓴𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓷, 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓘’𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼. 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮. 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓘 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮.”

𝚃𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚜:
💙MC Romance
💙Best Friends Brother
💙Unrequited Love

𝚂𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 🌶️🌶️
𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛: Yes

*𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍*

[Michelle Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Couple: Venom & Raya
❋❋❋❋❋❋
This ride has finally come to an end, Venom and his brand of crazy finishes the Dark Angels MC. I think I've run out of things I can say. Don't go in expecting anything realistic, just go in for a crazy time, good or bad you will be like what was that and why did I kind of like it.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was bad. IDK why I even let a little snippet pull me in because it was just like all the other books by this author. Half the story recaps the previous books. I haven't ready any of the others but don't need to because this went over everything. The story is so over the top ridiculous and I think this author needs to find a trauma plot device other than SA because that is used in every book.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An other 5 star book

A great way to end the series with Venom and Raya. I loved the back and forth of the two characters. Raya is definitely the meaning of strong willed I will do it myself woman. Venom is the type of man you love to hate and occasionally yell what are you doing?! But he definitely redeemed himself. Definitely recommend reading this book.

[Athena Que Será, Será · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tags: biker-mc-club, cruel-cruel-hero, damaged-broken_heroine, dark-romance, ex-bully, friends-brother, grovel-remorseful, hero-has-mistress, manwhore-philanderer, mean-mean-girls-women, older-hero-younger-heroine, om_drama, over-the-years, ow-drama, rape-survivor, read, revenge, rich-heroine, scarred-heroine, strong-fmc-heroine, unlikable-hero

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Venom and Raya.
I'm sorry, but who is rating these 4 and 5 stars? Are you reading what I am reading? Is the trauma shock just causing you to lose your minds? Using rape, assault, murder, etc as shock value to try and save an increasing unstable plotline does no one any favors.

Please remind me not to pick up a series from this author again.

[Amy Sayles · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great way to end the series! I cannot wait for her next series.
Definitely check trigger warnings if you have any triggers. I felt every emotion with this book like I do with all of her books!

[Lizzett Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte McGinlay Did it again!!

This book is amazing!! I love all her work but the relationship between Raya and Cale is everything!! He is everything she has ever needed and vice versa even when at odds!!! Amazing writing she has done it again!!

[MRS A DUFFY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow again

You've done it again, yet another book that I couldn't put down. Such a brilliant author. Keeping them coming Charlotte because I will continue to buy your books and I would recommend them to my friends. Thank you