I haven't read those books of hers, though I've seen them. However, I know exactly what you mean about having trouble getting an emotional connection to her books. Personally, I have this very hard-to-hit "perfect formula" for h/c and friendship, where it's deeply emotional and yet very restrained at the same time. When Cherryh is "on", she can hit my perfect formula exactly; she did this in Heavy Time/Hellburner and in Rusalka, both of which are among my all-time favorite books. (And by the way, regarding Heavy Time/Hellburner, knowing what you like, I really think you will LOVE these books ... hard SF with a completely and utterly messed-up main character who spends a lot of both books drugged out of his mind and physically injured.) However, her writing style runs close enough to the unemotional that it's really easy for her books to "miss", and that's been my reaction to several of hers that I've read, including Foreigner and Cyteen. She does gorgeous, detailed world-building, but sometimes she's just a little too restrained on the interpersonal relationships.