Thegracefulwriter_
Lila Morrison has mastered the art of invisibility. For twenty years, she's learned to take up less space - hiding behind oversized sweaters, small smiles, and the safety of being unseen. Love, she believes, is something that happens to other people - the beautiful, the confident, the girls who deserve to be noticed.
So when Tyler Kane, the golden boy of her college and captain of the football team, suddenly turns his attention to her, it feels like a miracle. For the first time, someone is looking at her - really looking. But what begins as a dream quickly twists into a trap. Tyler's love is consuming, controlling, cruel in the way it disguises itself as care. And Lila, starved for affection, clings tighter, mistaking his darkness for passion.
Her best friend, Harper, watches helplessly as Lila begins to lose herself. In a final attempt to pull her back, Harper introduces her to Noah Ellis - the quiet new transfer student with kind eyes and a steady soul. Noah challenges her in a good way. He doesn't try to change her. He doesn't demand she be smaller. He simply sees her - all of her - and calls her pretty like it's the most natural truth in the world.
But after years of believing she isn't enough, can Lila learn to trust love that doesn't hurt?
Or will she return to the pain that once made her feel wanted?
He Calls Me Pretty is a breathtaking, raw, and intimate story about learning to untangle love from pain - and discovering that the most powerful love story begins the moment you finally see yourself clearly.