Ethel Ann Shaffer was born and raised in Tiltonsville, Ohio, along the banks of the Ohio River. Her family lived three doors from the public library, and Ethel Ann read voraciously. After her first marriage dissolved, she headed for Ventura, California with her two daughters. After relocating, her writing career took off. She worked in various law firms to support her daughters, becoming a paralegal. She also wrote of her experiences in her abusive marriage. Woman’s World paid her $500 an essay. The abusive memories depressed her so she started writing humorous articles for local and national magazines and newspapers.

In her fifties, Ethel Ann graduated magna cum laude from California State University Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. She was elected president of the San Fernando Valley branch of the California Writers Club for two separate terms, ten years apart. She is also a pro-member of the Romance Writers of America. She is a member of LinkedIn and has 2,889 followers at this time.

In 2004, she published her first novel titled Secret Torment under the name Ethel Ann Pemberton. Her new release, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, a memoir, is about meeting up with a childhood sweetheart and rekindling their love decades later leading to love and marriage. Ethel Ann and Theodore, her husband of fourteen years, live in Valencia, California with their Siamese cat, Coco. Theodore is the other half of the duo depicted in the memoir.