The Valentine’s Day celebrations continue with SUSAN STOKER! Don’t forget to follow our recipe roundup all week long!  *** I watched a show on television about a missing little girl. She was three when she disappeared. But it got me to thinking about what happened if that little girl was found years later? What had she gone through? What was her life like? I wrote Defending Zara with that in mind. When Zara was in elementary school, she was on vacation with her parents in Peru. They were killed and she was dumped in a barrio. She grew up there, eventually learning Spanish and how to survive in the poorest sections of the city. Fast forward years and years, she’s now an adult and runs across Meat, a Mountain Mercenary in the country to try to save children from a human trafficker. It’s a story of despair, hope, luck…and love. One of the first meals Zara shares with Meat is a simple fare of Chicken soup. It had been so long since she’d had such a wonderful meal without having to beg or steal for it. I imagine her and Meat sitting down in their house back in Colorado Springs…