I don’t think so. I’ve seen a lot pop up as main love interest in a bunch of 女性向け story. They often appear as side characters as well. (Or maybe I just read an uncharacteristic sample of the books available). I guess the keyword to look for them would be 獣人, even though that implies that you’ll get other types than just cats.
That being said, there’s no example of them being the main character that comes to mind.
You might want to look through the tag on MangaUpdates 
. The only issue with that, is that they may possibly be tagging it for minor characters rather than a main character. I haven’t added any series with 猫耳 main characters to that database, so I’m not entirely sure how others went about tagging them. The only reason I suggest MU (even though you said you dont want manga) is because some of the mangas on there will list that they’re adapted from a LN, novel, or webnovel.
Aye aye, captain! I’ll keep an eye out and ask some other people, too. Hopefully I’ll find some for you.
I’ve noticed that! A lot that I had originally found were just there in passing or they were actually foxes and not cats 
I recommend ねこタクシー 上 | L31 (and part 2)
I may be biased because it was one of the first books I read so I had a big “look mom, I’m reading Japanese!” enjoyment boost, but it’s a really sweet story about a taxi driver who befriends a cat. It does have a slightly bittersweet ending of the kind of you said you might want to avoid, but I don’t think it spoils the book.
I completely forgot, but this series might be something a lover of cats would enjoy. It’s all about cats… and their secret cat society… ねこの学校 1 水晶どうくつの秘密 | L23
(It’s a translation from Korean, though.)
I just stumbled upon 転生したら剣でした 1 | L30 and remembered your post. Seems to fit what you are asking for, considering the main characters are a magical sword and the catgirl who wields it. No idea how good it is though!
Yes, that seems to fit. I’m going to add that to the list. Thank you!
サイレント・ウィッチ (series) | L29, or the manga adaptation サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと I | L29, is a fun series about a shy but powerful witch (in the Harry Potter sense of the word witch) who has to sneak into fancy magic school so she can secretly act as a bodyguard to the second prince. She has a black cat companion who talks with her when they’re alone, and also gets involved with some of the hijinks in ways I won’t spoil. I’ve only read the first LN so far, but I do want to continue it at some point. I also just picked up the first manga volume which came out recently and is what made me think to recommend it here.
I only read it in English but ‘The Cat Who Saved Books’ is a lovely light fantasy novel. It’s not rated on here, but the language seemed fairly simple in the translation so I think it should be an accessible read 
本を守ろうとする猫の話 本を守ろうとする猫の話: Amazon.co.uk: 9784093864633: Books
If you like mysteries…
キャットフード is a mystery-type cat-and-…cat story about a group of man-eating shapeshifting cats who have invited a group of high schoolers to a private island in order to kill them and harvest their meat. However, one of the high schoolers is actually a shapeshifting cat in disguise, and while cats are allowed to kill humans they can’t kill other cats. So the island-owning cats are trying to figure out which high schooler is the disguised cat while the disguised cat is trying to remain disguised, all the while hiding this from the humans.
I haven’t read them, but there’s a book called 猫には推理がよく似合う | L30?? as well as a 三毛猫ホームズの推理 | L33 series.
…There’s also a book called 神様ゲーム | L29 that is apparently a “murder” mystery about the killing of a cat (rather than a person), although maybe that’s sort of the opposite of what you’re looking for
This sounds incredibly intense; how did you find out about this one?
It may sound intense and there are actual stakes (i.e. deaths), but it’s played as a relatively light (once you look past, y’know, all the murder and stuff) cerebral puzzler, not grisly suspense horror of getting stalked and hunted. The writing style is very much like a LN. I’ve also written a full review about it.
I found it from https://ho-lingnojikenbo.blogspot.com/, which is a great blog for discovering Japanese (mystery) books, but (if you’re a mystery fan) prolonged exposure will cause your to-read list to mutate into an unmanageable monster. I also read another book by the same author (no cats in that one, though).
Oh no, what have you done. 
I just read your Two Detectives/One Watson review and can immediately feel the danger to my TBR list. I will bookmark it for future perusal. :3
@Athakaspen, @SophieShiori and @Bad_Player, thank you very much for the recs! My ‘to be read’ list has grown again, but also - i am not in a hurry, so that’s a very good thing 
i am on volume #3 of this series (loving it so far), and considering there are 52 books… it will be a looong ride!
…yes this one i will pass 
