I poked around a few f-list reviews of her books, and noticed that a common "can't connect" thread was the problem I had here: not having her characters make hard choices when one is set up, and not having her characters suffer and learn.

There's a difference between having characters face hardships, and then being given a way out (which is what this was) and having them work for their way out. The situation Cordelia faced when she returned to Beta was horrible, but it wasn't hard for her to get out of it.