Unlikely platinum albums don’t come any more unlikely than the Violent Femmes’ self-titled debut: The trio hailed from a city with no national profile (Milwaukee), had a lead songwriter still in his teens, and played acoustic instruments in an era of punk guitars and New Wave synths. But their snappy songs, inspired by alt-rock misfits like Jonathan Richman and suffused with emotional (especially sexual) despair, gradually found an audience. Today, as drummer-novelist Brown notes in this book’s introduction, the opening riff of “Blister in the Sun” is a clap-along staple at baseball games. The chief virtue of Brown’s study—part of the “33 ⅓” series of short books on classic albums—is that it recovers the strangeness of the album’s creation and conception. With little cash or scene credibility, the band couldn’t have recorded the album without a $10,000 loan from drummer Victor DeLorenzo’s father; DeLorenzo’s kit was a spartan contraption featuring a “tranceaphone,” a floor tom capped with a metal bushel basket; unlike most guitar albums, Brian Ritchie’s bass usually delivers the melody line; they scored a gig opening for the Pretenders just by busking outside the venue; their record label rejected them at first but changed its tune after staffers kept playing their tape in the office. Frontman Gordon Gano is hard-pressed to explain the genesis and meaning of the album’s now-iconic lyrics—what does it mean to blister in the sun, anyhow?—but his pleading voice connected with young fans who shared cassette dubs of the album like samizdat. Brown is an unabashed fan—the book closes with him giddily meeting Gano at an Atlanta concert—but it’s the just-the-facts nature of his reportage that best serves the book because the facts are fittingly offbeat.

God and Luc (the Devil) have waged war across seven battlefields for centuries. The final battlefield is the city of Carnage Coast, where God’s “champions” face off against Luc’s minions. Travis Holiday, known publicly as the armor-donning Iron Warrior, is one such champion. However, after enduring darkness in his own soul, he’s been largely absent for two years. He rushes back to Carnage Coast when he receives word that the enemy may be too much for Sgt. Rebecca Walters and costumed heroes like Grenade and the Pink Jaguar to handle. The city’s biggest threat seems to come from Candace Loveless, who’s apparently dead seton exposing the Iron Warrior’s true identity. Loveless’ agenda entails kidnapping and even killing innocent people to coerce Travis into submission. Soon, a series of rumors, letters, and videos cast Travis in a bad light, making his allies believe he’s dirty and convincing his girlfriend, Crystal, that he’s cheating on her. While some of what’s being said or shown has elements of truth (Travis’ past does indeed mingle with those of a few villains), the rest is absolutely fabricated, or so Travis claims; surely, this is all part of Loveless’ diabolical plan to turn everyone Travis loves against him. In the meantime, Rebecca and the other heroes clash with assorted villains, including the Simpleton and the mesmerizing Hypnotion. As the good guys rally to keep citizens safe, the threat remains that Loveless will pick one of Travis’ allies as the next abductee in her relentless mission to hurt the Iron Warrior.

A light but unmistakable Christian theme runs throughout Holiday’s novel (and series as a whole). The Iron Warrior is characterized as “God’s fist in the war” and a man “powered by faith.” This particular installment, however, doesn’t go much deeper; Travis primarily fights opponents to assist his fellow superheroes or for personal reasons, with no indication that a divine force is driving him. He asserts that his faith is rock solid (it genuinely fuels his superpowers), but he questions it throughout the story. (“I’ve been resorting to other beliefs. I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.”) The narrative teems with colorful heroes and villains: Grenade, who’s married to the Pink Jaguar, wears a yellow mechanized gauntlet; masked bad guy Diversion seemingly clones himself, and each version of himself is a different hue. Candace’s scheme against Travis is frighteningly plausible; characters instantly believe that a video showing Travis in a compromising position is legit, despite how easy it is to fake such images. This all results in a welcome vulnerability for Travis, whose Iron Warrior armor appears indestructible. As Travis struggles with handling anger and occasionally turns violent, Loveless’ machinations provide a potent reminder that the superhero is only human. The dialogue is generally straightforward and refreshingly concise, but the one-liners that invariably pop up in the action scenes usually fall flat, as in the Simpleton’s taunt: “Damn, guy! Looks like you got hit by a parked car…It should’ve looked where it was going, am I right?” This third series entry makes it clear where the next installment (and planned conclusion) will go.

When Zoe Nichols, the newbie BLM officer in Eagle Ferry, Alaska, is accidentally assigned to a land-lease lottery—picking a name from a jar to see who gets to lease a tract of federal wilderness—she does it fairly. Instead of giving it to Sebastian Fisher, the oil tycoon who controls the town, she draws the name of Heller Mason, patriarch of a clan of well-armed environmental zealots who have lived there for over a century. Fisher pressures her into offering Mason $100 million to obtain an easement for his gas pipeline, but Heller refuses to let big fossil fuel companies poison the land. Fisher’s mercenaries, led by Venezuelan heavy Urso, blockade the Masons to prevent them from filing the lease fee by the ten-day deadline—after which the parcel will fall under Fisher’s control. Plagued by alcoholism and guilt over her family’s death in a car crash, Zoe initially sits on the sidelines, but she’s a Marine combat veteran and can’t resist joining the good fight on the Masons’ side. Assisted by investigative reporter Daniel Reeves and Native Alaskan U.S. Army vet Guwaii (a crack shot and spiritual counselor), Zoe takes command of the Mason militia and girds for a showdown with Fisher, Urso, and their dozens of gunmen. Reece’s yarn depicts an atmospheric and slightly noirish small-town Alaska that’s visually gorgeous but harsh (in short: mosquitoes and frostbite) with suitably flinty inhabitants: “‘Alaska doesn’t lie,’ [Urso] said. ‘It promises death if you’re weak, survival if you’re strong.’” The action is gripping, balancing precise physical movements with gory results. Zoe is an appealing mix of sodden pathos and hard-bitten leatherneck and also proves to be a captivating center of attention.

Orion Casey lives for music, but she won’t sing in public. She developed a phobia after her frenemy, Melissa Rae, and her minions openly mocked Orion’s singing voice. So while Melissa Rae takes the spotlight in their school’s musical production, Orion is just fine working backstage. Her self-esteem gets a welcome boost from an unlikely source: anonymous text messages signed J. They’re complimentary and encouraging: “You are strong! You are fearless! And super talented.” Orion can’t help but think (and hope) that those texts are from Jesse, the guy she’s crushing on. He always says hello, and he’s even given her the nickname Red, after her fire-emoji-hued hair. Best of all, he sings and plays guitar, just like Orion. She’s overjoyed when she gets the chance to play music with Jesse and considers rethinking her no-singing-in-public rule. But if Jesse isn’t J, then who’s been sending all those texts, and why? Orion’s quirky first-person narration gives DaVeiga’s book a sense of buoyancy. She notes that Melissa Rae has someone wrapped around her “press-on-nailed finger”; Orion goes through a “zillion emotions” in a matter of seconds. She’s an immensely likable protagonist, although her best friend, Izzy, nearly steals the story; Izzy is funny, fiercely loyal, and knows how to draw out a big revelation. Other characters show depth as well—Orion’s and Izzy’s families share history, and Jesse eventually drops some particulars about his “mysterious past.” The author deftly portrays the world of middle school, with potential bullies, hallway interactions, and social media providing much fuel for the story. The one downside to this novella is that it’s over too soon; thankfully, sequels will follow.

Naina Shetty has no time for romance. If she did, she wouldn’t have become the best junior legal associate at Akhtar, Kumble & Co. in Bangalore, India, or be the top pick for a major promotion as the only woman on her team. Naina is a self-proclaimed workaholic with little time for relationships, which she swore off for good after last year’s sexy summer fling. Reeling from a broken engagement, Naina found herself in Goa 17 months ago in search of two weeks of no-strings-attached fun. She found it with her handsome hostel roommate, Tejas, who was nursing his own broken heart following his ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Together, they ran through the items on Naina’s Anti-Honeymoon Checklist, including skinny-dipping, attending a rave, and kissing a stranger. When the summer ended, so did their fling, and neither expected to see each other again. But then Tejas unknowingly takes a position at Naina’s firm, where they’re placed on the same assignment—a high-profile Bollywood murder scandal. As Naina and Tejas work together to uncover the details of the Preethi Acharya case, they discover that a relationship they’d thought was just casual might be something much deeper. Are they willing to let the sparks between them catch fire, or are they too afraid of getting burned again? Hegde’s latest romance follows two unlucky-in-love people afraid that committing means getting hurt again. Naina and Tejas embody the phrase “opposites attract,” with her studious perseverance and his sunny demeanor, and it’s refreshing, if slightly out of character, to see them let loose in the flashback scenes as they navigate heartbreak and hookup culture. As a second-chance romance, their journey will be rewarding to readers who want to see them face their relationship anxieties head on and come out stronger.