Rue Heights already has a life she loves.
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She has meaningful work at a London art gallery, a bicycle that has survived more than a few questionable decisions, a gloriously intrusive family group chat, and no interest in becoming a footnote in someone else’s story.
Then she meets a dryly charming stranger on a balcony.

He doesn’t give her his name. She calls him Balcony Man. And when he kisses her cheek before leaving, Rue assumes their lovely little moment will remain exactly that.

By morning, the photograph is everywhere, and Balcony Man is revealed to be Alastair Frederick, Britain’s new Prime Minister.

The press has already decided Rue is his secret American girlfriend. Correcting the story could expose them both to something uglier, so Rue and Alastair agree to let the country believe the lie while they decide whether the attraction between them deserves a real chance.

But somewhere between public appearances, private phone calls, security details, tangled sheets, and evenings that feel dangerously like home, the performance becomes the most honest thing in either of their lives.

Rue refuses to disappear inside Alastair’s position. Alastair can’t stop being Prime Minister whenever love asks something difficult of him. If they want a life together, they’ll have to discover whether the man on the balcony and the woman behind the headlines can make room for everything they are.

Very Real is a witty, tender, open-door contemporary romance about public expectations, private joy, and two grown people falling inconveniently, and completely, in love.