Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (1996)

This roman a clef about the worlds of celebrity magazines and country-music superstardom indulges in just enough gossip to spice up an otherwise syrupy love story. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground — written under a pseudonym by ex-ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY staffer Kelli Pryor — tells the story of Tess, a successful, jaded New York journalist. When Tess returns to her Ozarks childhood home to interview a married country-music superstar — who just happens to be her high school boyfriend — they rekindle their romance. While clues in the book could lead one to believe that singer ''Buck Campbell'' is really Randy Travis, even EW staffers don't know the truth (Travis says he's never heard of Pryor, who declined to comment). Still, just as Tess' editors want her to write a story with ''sex appeal and lust value,'' ''Garrett'' has done exactly that here. B