Publication Date: August 12, 2025
With the sultry atmosphere and ratcheting tension of The White Lotus, The Mosquito Coast, and Nine Perfect Strangers, Lime Juice Money is an intoxicating, sensuous debut that follows a woman trapped in an increasingly volatile relationship 5,000 miles from home in a Central American jungle.
A woman losing herself. A brutal relationship. And a jungle full of secrets.
When disaster strikes, hearing-impaired Laelia Wylde leaves London with her new partner, Aidrian, and her young children, hoping for a fresh start in the verdant jungle of Belize. There, she can be closer to her botanist father, get away from her sister, and maybe find a way to open the restaurant she’s always dreamed of.
While the jungle is mesmerizingly beautiful, it is also unforgiving and brutally hot, filled with deadly creatures and sinister magic. Laelia’s fragmented recollections of the past are increasingly bewildering, the gunshots she hears at night through her worsening tinnitus seem to be getting closer, and she still doesn’t understand why her father tried to turn her against Aid when they first met—though maybe she just misheard.
Uncovering long-buried secrets that threaten to derail everything, Laelia must somehow find the courage and resilience she needs to survive. Or is she destined to disappear into the shadows, like the orchid her father named her after?
Lime Juice Money is a twisty, searing journey of raw love, betrayal, corruption, and greed in a shaken paradise, pulsating with danger both inside and outside the door.
Despite the beauty of the jungle, secrets are woven amongst the lush flowers. For Laelia Wylde, the new beginning she seeks in Belize may prove to be disastrous.
Lime Juice Money marks the first novel for author Jo Morey. The storyline itself unfolds much slower than expected, primarily narrated in first person by Laelia along with flashbacks featuring Ellis, her father.
Laelia’s worsening hearing impairment plays a significant role in the story, as does her spotty memories. Her character seems to be oblivious to what is happening around her, particularly when it comes to her new boyfriend.
Staying in the jungle not only resurrects tangled memories, but it also pushes Laelia toward her botanist father’s notebooks, where the truth eventually unfolds.
Lime Juice Money, a phrase explained in the book, takes readers on a journey where memories and reality don’t always agree.
Jo Morey has a BA in English Literature and French. She has lived and worked in Paris and New Zealand, and now lives at the foot of the South Downs in the UK. Like her protagonist, Jo also suffers from a hearing impairment and constant tinnitus. Lime Juice Money is her first novel.
