Can you help me with the title and the author?

[kathrin.p]

A while ago I was on a site about a book (Sci-fi or fantasy). I thought this book was really great, but I just don't remember the author and the title. When my computer crashed I lost the link to the site :(

Here's what I remember:
- the author is a girl of about 18 years
- the picture on the cover is by a friend of hers (so she said on her web page)
- the main characters are half feline, half human
- they used to kind of rule the world but then the humans came back and now they have to be really careful
- the book was published in 2000 or later
- I think the story wasn't set on the earth
- the author had a name I thought was unusual - at least for me

[KatG]

The first thing that popped into my head was C.J. Cherryh's Chanur series, which is a sf series involving humans and a feline-like alien race. But they weren't half human, I don't think, and they didn't hide out on Earth, so maybe it's something else.