Synopsis:
Part I of a III Part Series
She’s planning the perfect wedding. She’s also planning the perfect murder.
Emily Byrd has everything she ever wanted: a beautiful home, a perfect fiancé, and the wedding of her dreams just days away. But perfection has always felt like a performance and Emily has grown tired of playing her part.
Behind closed doors, she’s plotting something unthinkable. Her fiancé, Remmy Black, trusts her with his life. He shouldn’t.
Lurking on the edges of their quiet neighborhood is Miss Volkova, the enigmatic neighbor whose watchful presence unsettles Emily in ways she can’t explain. And then there’s Matt, Remmy’s best friend, whose loyalty to Remmy makes him dangerously curious… too close to uncovering secrets Emily would kill to protect.
As the wedding approaches, Emily’s carefully tended plans begin to fray. The question isn’t whether she can go through with it-it’s whether she can keep anyone from noticing until it’s too late.
Dark, tense, and unsettling, Rooted in Silence is a psychological thriller about obsession, secrets, and the twisted lengths we go to for control.
Shop The Book: Rooted In Silence
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Reading and finishing this book felt like being handed the very secretive inner thoughts of somebody I was never supposed to see. And now I hold all of this deep, dirty, private information. It is unsettling in a way that gets under your skin and stays there and maybe causes you to see people a little differently as a result. And see the world a little differently as a result. But in the most compulsive, cannot stop, drawn in, want more kind of way.
If you could spend one hour inside the unfiltered thoughts of someone you love, would you want to?
The Story
Rooted in Silence is the first book in a trilogy by A.M. Walker. Emily Byrd has everything she ever wanted. A beautiful home, a perfect fiance, and the wedding of her dreams just days away. But perfection has always felt like a performance and Emily has grown tired of playing her part. Behind closed doors she is plotting something unthinkable. Her fiance Remmy trusts her with his life. He should not. On the edges of their quiet neighborhood lurks Miss Volkova, an enigmatic neighbor whose watchful presence unsettles Emily in ways she cannot explain. And then there is Matt, Remmy’s best friend, whose loyalty makes him dangerously curious and dangerously close to uncovering what Emily would kill to protect.
Reading Experience
I love books written in this style. I like all kinds of psychological thrillers and domestic suspense but I have a particular love for the kind where the main character is the problem. Where the main character is perhaps the bad guy with questionable morals and questionable motives and you spend the entirety of the book inside their head. Learning what their thought processes are. What traumas led them to this point. How they see the world completely differently from everyone around them. And in a really scary way it makes you understand how somebody can get so far off track that they are willing to do something dangerous and harmful… and illegal. Because in their mind, in their journey, it makes complete sense to them. I love when an author can put us in the head of somebody like that and make us feel real feelings for somebody who is doing something very, very wrong.
Writing Style
A.M. Walker writes very eloquently. There is a floral, picturesque quality to the way she words things that I think matches the whole rooted, earth, garden, flowers theme of this series beautifully. It makes a very dark and gritty story feel clean and elegant somehow.
I also really loved how much was left unsaid. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great backstory. I love knowing the details of where a person comes from and how they got to where they are. But when it is written well enough, just a hint of something, a subtle mention of a past trauma, the whisper of a pattern of unhealthy thoughts, can be more powerful than pages of explanation. You do not need a deep character history to understand that something happened here that caused Emily to develop in a way where this psychologically damaging thought process feels healthy to her. The silence speaks more than words would. Not knowing exactly why or what led to this moment, those empty spaces, made everything feel creepier and more intriguing. The silence is the point.
Characters
There are not many characters in this book and I loved that. You do not get distracted by a lot of outside personalities. You really get to know just the people that matter.
Emily Byrd is twisted and messed up and so utterly compelling. I loved her. And it makes my stomach feel unsettled to say that because girl has some serious issues. But I wanted her to get what she wanted so badly. And while I was reading and rooting for her I kept thinking, what is wrong with me?
I liked Matt a lot. I loved how observant he was, how he could keep an eye on things while staying under the radar, how he could threaten while still being coy. He was a quietly fascinating presence.
I did not connect deeply with Remmy and I think that was intentional on my part. I wanted their story to be a love story full of forever and happiness but something kept me from letting myself get too attached. Maybe I knew better.
And the neighbor, Miss Volkova. I want to know everything about her. Where she came from, how she knows what she knows about plants and gardens and how to use them. I could honestly read an entire separate series on her alone. She was absolutely fascinating and I need more.
Heartbeat
The heartbeat of this story for me is the understanding that you truly do not know what is going on inside another person. We get to know people. We see how they portray themselves, their personality, their lifestyle, the pieces of themselves they choose to share. But that does not mean we have access to the deep dark inner workings of their thoughts and feelings and experiences. As much as we would like to think we have a general understanding of how humans function, we really have no idea what anybody is thinking or feeling in any given moment. Your reality is not always the same as someone else’s. Your experiences do not always result in the same way they would for someone else. Your sense of right and wrong will not always line up with everyone else’s. And it is quietly terrifying to sit with the truth that we all have so much of ourselves that stays completely hidden.
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend Rooted in Silence to anyone who loves psychological thrillers, but especially if you are a reader who likes to have the hairs prickle on the back of your neck with just the whisper of something not quite right. This book is quiet, suspenseful tension from beginning to end and it gets under your skin in a way that lingers long after the last page.
I want to be transparent that I came to this book as part of A.M. Walker’s ARC team for book two and I was honestly a little nervous because I had gotten to know her a little and the last thing I wanted was to not enjoy it. I did not have that problem! I loved it! And as soon as I finished Rooted in Silence I immediately burrowed into the ARC of Bound in Botany, which releases July 14, 2026. That should tell you everything.
Book one, Rooted in Silence, is available now. Released December 3, 2025.
My 2026 Book Stack:
https://amzn.to/3YQVeZC
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https://www.instagram.com/ashleykbooks
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/ashmandak
ebook provided by Harbor and Stone Press. All thoughts are my own.
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