Tainted Fish

There are plenty of fish in the sea. Nobody said they were all worth catching.For years, Jess Ayala believed being chosen meant being loved.So she kept casting the line.There were liars and cheaters. Men who disappeared and came back. Relationships that should have ended long before they did. Situationships, second chances, red flags she occasionally decorated instead of running from, and enough dating disasters to make putting down the fishing pole seem like the only reasonable option.But Tainted Fish isn't a book about blaming the men.It's about the woman who kept choosing them.With raw honesty, sharp humor, and the kind of self-awareness that usually arrives several bad decisions too late, Jess looks back at the patterns that kept her fishing in tainted waters and asks the harder questions: Why did attention feel like love?Why did being chosen matter so much?And what happens when a woman finally stops looking for someone else to choose her?Tainted Fish is a candid memoir about love, heartbreak, dating, loneliness, healing, and the uncomfortable space between knowing better and finally doing better.It's about putting down the fishing pole.Choosing peace.And realizing that maybe the greatest catch was never swimming in the damn sea.She was standing on the shore the whole time.