Falling in love at 80, an LA County 97-year-old romance novelist keeps things steamy

"The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" is a passionate read about falling in love much later in life, and its 97-year-old author explains it's a bit biographical.

"It's about my husband and falling in love at 80," romance novelist Ethel Ann Shaffer said.

Shaffer and her bestie, Helen Martin, who also happens to be her proofreader, live in the same Valencia senior housing complex and are working on their next masterpiece, Shaffer's third book.

Her second published book was a sweet story of second chances, and it's also a steamy read.

"Our love was so magical it really was, but it's an adult book," Shaffer said. "Everybody wants to know, are the body parts still working, you know, and what's going on in your lives?"

A publisher agreed, and the golden girl of romance now has a website, and her book started selling online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Shaffer believes life's experiences shouldn't be stamped with expiration dates. She got her English degree in her 50s and is now working on book number three at Sunrise Assisted Living at Sterling Canyon.

Helen Martin came into Shaffer's life last year as her husband was battling health problems and her own macular degeneration made it impossible to read.

"She's my eyes," Shaffer said of Martin, attributing her with the ability to keep writing.

"I'm the world's best proofreader because I'm always finding mistakes in the novels that I'm reading," Martin joked.

The pair meets about four times a week to edit, and, surprisingly, they discover they have lived parallel lives. "I had the love of my life when I was 78!" Martin said.  They experienced similar joys and heartbreaks.

"We were married to abusive men in the first marriage, we had to raise children alone, and we went to school later in life," Shaffer said.

The title of Shaffer's next book is "She Always Gets Her Man," and the pair plan to have it ready in time for a German book tour. That's just the start of Shaffer's big plans. She said she's got a lot of books in the works.