Why “Edge of Steel” by Elizabeth Dear is the Fantasy Read You Can’t Miss

• Author: Elizabeth Dear
• Release Date: April 28, 2026
• Genre: Reverse Harem, Paranormal Romance
• My Rating:
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
• 🌶️🌶️/5

  💋 Holy freaking jesus was this a good book… Good isn’t the great word. Fantastic, outstanding, jaw dropping! This book is a must! Edge of Steel is book two of the Shifter Guardians Academy. Probably gonna be some spoilers as Edge of Steel takes place right where Clash of Claws ended with Avery laying in the woods. To make matters worse her Fated ones, the ones promised by the Moon rejected her and left her for dead.

Spoilers Ahead

“Honey.” Dad peered at me, a smile pulling at his mouth. “They said you’re Fated.”

“Declared it, actually.” Joseph added. “And demanded to be let in here once you’d been stabilized.” 

“But Ian annoucenced that it would be over his desecrated corpse that they would be allowed anywhere near you, then words were exchanged, and after that all the stabbing happened.” 

Joseph squeezed my hand again. “Is it true? Did you meet your Fated?”

…

I shut my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. I would not cry. Not now. Not after all I’d just survived. “But I don’t want them.”

My dads exchanged cornered looks. “Why not, Honey?”

“Because they didn’t want me,” I snapped

🐺With the school year over Avery is hoping she can avoid her mates as much as possible for the summer, unfortunately Guardian training doesn’t stop just because it’s summer. Now she is thrown into the secluded woods with the rest of the Guardians and of course her mates… The last people she wants to see.

🏕️The groveling in this one was top notch! All four men on their knees, pleading, begging, possessive and obsessive just the way I like it! I’m not sure how to even put into words how much I am loving this series and how Elizabeth is now one of my new auto buy authors! This book is absolutely everything to me. It has magic which I love, supernature HOT AF shifter with muscles for daayyss, amazingly sweet friendships among Ian and his boys with Avery, and the world they live in! 

🦊Speaking of Ian, I love how protective he is of his sister. Will get in the face of any shifter no matter the size, and will even make sure her mates stay the hell away from her. But with some time he realizes how good they are for her.

🐻I fell in love with Ward Gale, Wyatt Gale (one of our Fated’s fathers). You probably will because he’s strong, built like a bear, a girl dad through and through who believes his daughters could never do anything wrong and are perfect just like their mother. The way he is so happy for his son and the moments we get with the two of them warm my cold ass heart! He is nothing like Blackwell’s father, cold and calculating, always needing power and will do anything to get it. In fact, he would promise his only daughter to shifters who aren’t afraid to show a woman who’s in charge, and get her in line.

Dad’s smile was in danger of breaking his face in half. “Not even a little bit. You’ve been given a sacred gift Wyatt. There is not a chance your bond with Avery will be weak or unstable.”

🐍I could go on and on about the men in Avery’s life. Each one of them has a special place in my heart. I’m not sure who I love more, Heath, the Alpha who fiercely leads and protects his team.

“Then tell me, Heath, truly.” She sat straighter, her eyes blazing like the center of a flame. “You didn’t want a central bond with a beast soul because you thought it would be faulty. Weaker. You wanted the assurance of power. Of Stability. Of fertility. Now you know for certain that a bond with me means a bond with a beast soul. What’s changed, really?”

“Everything has changed, Avery,” I said, my voice a desperate rasp. “You’re our Fated. Our perfect match, chosen for us by the Moon. Our deity. The source of every drop  of our shifter magic. I don’t believe our bond could be anything but the strongest and most perfect union on the planet, but even if it wasn’t, I just do not fucking care anymore.” 

I’d shouted those last few words, and she stared wordlessly at me.

“I won’t take you from them again,” I whispered. “If I’m wrong, I might die for it but I won’t ask my brother and my best friends to sacrifice for me anymore.”

Aiden the hot professor whose nose is always in a book trying to find any research about fated mates with a beast soul,

“Do you want to talk about what happened, sweetheart?” he asked, his lips, next to my ear. He smelled so good, and it made me monumentally furious. “Gladly. I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. But we are Fated, Avery, and that deserves at least one civil conversation.”  His grip tightened on my hips and he pressed his body flush against mine. He was hard as a rock in those track pants, and I couldn’t decide if I was pissed he dared or would’ve been more pissed if being pressed up against him didn’t make him so hard. “So, are yuo going to talk to me or you going to continue to act like a brat?” 

“Fuck you, Aiden. You broke my heart and now you have the gall to call me a brat?” 

He sucked in a harsh breath and returned his gaze to mine, anguish marring his stupid handsome face. “Fuck, baby. I didn’t know I even had enough of your heart to break. I am sorry Avery. I was half in love with you-”

“Bullshit,” I spat.

“-but we had our reasons, sweetheart. Reasons to seek what we thought was a guarantee of power and stability in our bond, and to do it quickly. You know why we thought that couldn’t be you-”

“I don’t want to hear it-”“For the love of the fucking Moon, Avery,” he snarled, lips nearly touching mine, his minty breath hot against my skin. “We. Didn’t. Know. I didn’t know! But now we do. Stop this madness and come back to us.”

Wyatt the laid back, cocky, smart ass you can’t help out crush on

“It is the first fucking day of camp, and we are not mates. Get control of yourself and your beast, or I will run you through with both of my blades.”

The edge of her blades broke through the tiniest layer of skin, and my blood beaded, warm and wet on the steel. “That’s where you’re wrong, Wildcat,” I said with my most seductive grin. “You can deny it until you can’t even fucking speak anymore, but we are mates. You. Are. My. Fated. I won’t give you up, and my bear certainly isn’t going to let any other bastards put their hands on you. It’s instinctual, primal, and all-fucking-consuming. Get used to it.” 

She leaned in closer, our lips barely touching. “Oh yeah?” she whispered, and suddenly I knew I was in danger. “But your bear doesn’t have any qualms about other girls putting their hands on you, does he? How was your date with Callista, Wyatt? Did you fuck her this time, or did you just give her the honor of sucking your cock again? Was she in the running of your quad’s bond or were you just trying to get your dick wet once last time before Heath made you bond with Phoebe?” Furious despair flood my entire body.

…

“Listen up, Wildcat.” I growled, “because I am only going to say this once. What you saw at the ball was the extent of what happened with Callista. I was trying to convince myself that I could want to touch someone other than you, and I failed miserably.” 

or Elijah the bad boy, morally grey mate who would burn the world for you. 

“You have to leave. We aren’t mates. I don’t forgive you for what you did.”

“I know, Dove. You shouldn’t forgive me. I haven’t earned it yet.” he leaned down bringing his face even closer to mine. “But I will. Even if it takes me decades of my life. You are more than I could’ve ever fathomed to dream of in a partner and a bond. I’m sorry that I gave you up. I should have fought harder to keep you.”

I stared at him. He was so achingly beautiful, and it made me so violently furious. “You hurt me,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I was falling for you, and you hurt me.”

His nostrils flared, and he ground his teeth together like he was enduring torture. “I’m so sorry, Dove,” he murmured. “We had a purpose when we did what we did, but we were very wrong in thinking you couldn’t be part of it.”

I didn’t want to hear any more but curiosity killed the tiger. “Were you just going to bond with whichever latent princess the others decided on?”

He swallowed roughly and tore his yellow eyes from my face for the first time since he’d arrived “Yes.”

Disgust curdled in my guy. I shut my eyes and burrowed further into my covers . “Please leave,” I croaked.

Favorite Scenes

“Does that girl own any shorts that don’t cling to every inch of her ass?” Aiden griped behind me.

“Quit your bitching,” I shot back. “That ass is the reason I get out of bed in the morning.”

“That ass is going to get a bunch of our fellow trainees murdered if they don’t stop staring at it.” Heath murmured

“What was the first hardest thing?” I asked softly

He didn’t have to ask what I meant. A red sheen rolled over his glinting green eyes as he answered, his voice just as soft. “Giving you up.”

Favorite Quotes

d said and done things to my girl that made me sick to my fucking stomach, and I’d let her stab me fifty times for it if it meant I’d have the force of those electric blue eyes on me once more. You can’t fight divine will, Wildcat. I’m coming for you

“I was obsessed with you, Wildcat. But I thought I couldn’t have you, so I needed you to hate me.”

Shifter Guardians Academy

• Clash of Claws
• Edge of Steel
• Rage of Beasts

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