I agree that reading at bedtime is a wonderful bonding activity, but if it were going to help her learn to read independently, it would probably already have done so. This seems to be pretty much the basis of the "whole language" approach to reading: immerse a child in books and language, and the child will begin to catch on; then you can build on those first bursts of understanding.
It works for a lot of children, but not for all. (One of mine caught on fine, and the other just didn't.) When a child is still struggling with even the easiest words by the middle of first grade--as my younger daughter was--I strongly recommend a professional evaluation. But it's great to keep reading anyway.
