I nearly put this book down several times. It managed to stay just interesting enough to keep me reading. Unfortunately, I have finished the book wishing I didn't bother. 
The vast majority of the relationships in the book are somewhat creepy to my reading. It's interesting because the author said in her notes that she didn't want to write her characters as naive young women being taken advantage of by powerful older white men, but unfortunately to my reading that's exactly how it came across. Don't get me wrong, they have their own personalities and are by no means weak women, but I still felt they had definitely been taken advantage of, especially Ida. 
It does give an interesting, if a little one-sided snapshot of a significant period in Jamaica's history. I'd like to read more about that at some point but this book just didn't do it for me.