I wanted to love this book, I really did. And though I enjoyed the overall plot, I think the book suffers from repetitive exposition that weakens the impact of moments of pain and horror.

Ruth was only mostly likeable, but repeating over and over again the circumstances and all the evidence stacked against her just wore away at the joy I had in reading the plot and the character’s development.

This had all the makings of being an excellent book but I just don’t think the fat has been properly trimmed

Ruth and her girlfriend live in the small town of Kill Devil, where the New Creationist followers rule over the townspeople. Ruth is working hard saving for their escape when she runs out of yarn while knitting a blanket for a client, which means she must go to the dreaded New Creations craft store for more supplies. She is caught while pocketing some merchandise, triggering a fight for her life against the horrors the New Creationists have planned for her. Filled with unsettling characters (and craft tools used as dangerous weapons) _Crafting for Sinners_ is an immersive read for horror fans (and knitters).

I am unfortunately deciding to dnf this book at 51%. I started this book over 2 weeks ago and have only gotten halfway through, which is very unlike me with my reading patterns.

I am actually bummed about this because I was highly looking forward to this story. The premise is unique, I love religious horror, and it just seemed like a blast. I was surprised to find myself so, so bored. The beginning was awesome and fast paced with some really entertaining and gory moments, and then it quickly fell away and we quite literally got stuck in the craft store and I never found my way out.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this book and it has a lot of positive things about it! Some wild gore, southern setting, and religious aspects that a lot of readers will love. Unfortunately, this one just didn't hit for me.

Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer is a clever, unsettling horror novel that weaves together domestic coziness and creeping dread. What begins as a seemingly lighthearted premise, hobbies and crafts, slowly twists into something much darker, with themes of obsession, guilt, and creation gone wrong. The eerie atmosphere builds steadily, keeping the tension sharp throughout.

Kiefer’s writing balances wit and unease, making the horror land with extra bite. Some sections linger a little too long, but the originality of the concept and the creeping psychological tension more than make up for it. A sharp, inventive 4-star read for fans of horror that hides its teeth behind a smile.

And you thought the worst thing that could happen in Hobbycraft is them running out of sequins…

Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer is a wild, glitter-dusted ride about a queer woman trapped in a craft store run by a religious cult…of course!

Thanks to NetGalley and Quirk Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

After being fired for being gay, Ruth is forced back into the clutches of “New Creations”, a craft store owned by the church that rules her suffocating hometown of Kill Devil.

It all starts innocently enough: Ruth runs out of yarn for a commission and dreads bumping into her ex at the shop…while still wearing their hoodie. Relatable. But that’s exactly where the realism stops, and things spiral into chaotic, hot-glue-gun-fuelled terror.

There’s an eerily empty store, an abundance of “Live, Laugh, Love” signs (terrifying!), a permanently locked store room, oh and to top it off, our protagonist is diabetic and at risk of an imminent hypo.

One of my favourite details? Ruth never lets go of her trusty tote bag, even when battling cult members.

I have my own complicated relationship with religion, which made parts of the story unsettling to read. Overall though, this book was an enjoyably bonkers race against the night and against Ruth’s plummeting blood sugar levels and I had a lot of fun!

This was a solid 4 star read for me! I seriously could not put it down. As someone who knits, crochets, and loves horror books, I absolutely inhaled it. That craft store scene where she steals yarn had me low key cackling. If you are a crafter, you know exactly what store it will remind you of!

As someone who worked at a craft store in their teenage years this really was a highly anticipated read for me. It has a very creative premise. If you like arts and crafts, some slight body horror, and cults this is a read for you.

Rating 3.5 rounded up

Religious trauma and homophobia, a match made up by religious zealots. A queer woman is trapped in a craft store after being caught shoplifting. The catch, the craft store is owned by a megachurch. Or MC’s Resourcefulness and ability to repurpose everyday craft supplies into defensive tools is like some kind of female small town MacGyver. Action packed and very inventive is the way I would describe this novel. Is it perfect, no. Does it suffer from some typical clichés, a bit. Is it a fun read that provides social commentary on religious intolerance, Hell Yes. I devoured this book in one setting. I know there will be some who will find fault with this and complain about plot holes. Especially when it comes to the diabetes aspect but in my opinion I found this book just to be a fun and creative ride.

A timely thriller that picks up on the Hobby Lobby scandal and the continuing American tradition of weird overly strict religiously cults, this novel wastes little time getting going. You feel for the protagonist, stuck in this restrictive, dead end town, but you do wonder how she became so complacent. I can't say more than that without spoilers, but I think you'll see. The story does lose a little steam in the middle, and there is at least one horror movie decision, which is what I call any choice made by a character that seems to only be done to keep the plot moving in a certain direction, but those are quibbles. Mostly I enjoyed this book, and the comeuppance that some characters so richly deserved. One warning - if you don't like rats, there is a sequence in this book you will not like at all.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC

I have so many mixed feelings about Crafting For Sinners that I decided to make a pros and cons list.

Pros:
• the craft store setting made for fun opportunities
• religious/culty vibes
• fairly fast-paced and a quick read

Cons:
• not enough substance for a full-length novel
• it felt very repetitive at times
• the formatting was messy

I wanted to love it, and the premise sounded great. Unfortunately, the execution just missed the mark.

Fun, campy, and gory!

Love the setting — a craft store is such a unique place to set a horror novel. And as a former craft store employee (RIP Joanns, miss u gurl) I loved how atmospheric it was. The setting was just really, really well done.

For people who grew up in a church and later left or who grew up gay or outcasts in uber-religious small towns, this will hit home. It deals with some heavy topics — being gay in a place where it can be dangerous, being disowned for your sexuality, religious trauma — but it’s all very surface level. There’s no real thoughtful examination of these things. They’re happening and we can see them happening, though. And sometimes that’s enough.

The gore in this book — chefs kiss. There were definitely some super heart racing parts of this story. I appreciated that the main character was competent and capable and didn’t just deer and headlights her way through the situation.

The writing is super repetitive. Same lines will be reused in different parts to describe different things. Everything “crescendos”. I know that Ruth bleeding and in pain, I don’t need to be told that every paragraph. I recall. If I had to hear about her blood sugar being low one more time, I thought I was gonna throw my kindle out the window.

Also — everything is told through dialogue. Everything unanswered question, every detail of what’s going on with the cult — all dialogue. Which is kind of annoying. If you’re one of the people who “turns their brain off” when they read, you’ll like this one, because you don’t have to think about anything that’s going on. There’s nothing really to figure out. Everything is explicitly stated by one character or another. What isn’t plainly stated to begin with is very easy to guess very early on (and then plainly stated).

The pov change near the end was weird and unnecessary. I understand, kind of, why it was there. I felt like there were other ways to accomplish getting that information across to readers without adding in one random pov shift.

Overall, the book is creative, it’s thrilling, and it’s enjoyable. Is it a literary masterpiece? Not anywhere close. But if you just want a fun, fast-paced scary story, this is worth the time.

This was a fantastically suspenseful book!
Despite being set almost entirely in a craft store, the world building was fantastic and engaging and really evoked a sense of the cult like community Ruth and Abigail were living in.
I was truly invested in Ruth's journey, rooting for her escape from the beginning, but do wish we got to see more development of Abigail as a character and their relationship. It was abundantly clear how deeply they loved one another but I would have loved to have seen them together for longer.
The story was very effectively interwoven with excerpts from a true crime podcast which all came together satisfyingly by the end of the novel, but allowed the reader to start to piece together what was going on.
I loved the book- I couldn't put it down and ended up finishing it in a day!

this book was another in the category of “insane in a good way.” as a crafter who also happens to be horror obsessed, it’s like this book was written for me. the middle stretched a little, but it was worth it. jenny kiefer you may have created a new cult classic (no pun intended?)


thank you to netgalley & quirk books for this digital arc

Crafting for Sinners is a fun, campy cult horror story that will appeal to "cozy" horror readers and to people who have escaped from the clutches of extreme, religious fundamentalism. The story follows two lesbians in a hyper-conservative small town and explores how they navigate hiding their relationship from the local bigots in Kill Devil, Kentucky. When Ruth gets trapped in her old workplace, a crafting store, she must fight for survival as the local cult seeks to utilize her for a violent ritual.

I absolutely adore the cover of this book and enjoyed it as a quick, but satisfying read. Some of the scenes in the middle dragged on a little bit, but I loved the twist at the end and thought that the author did a great job of exploring how, no matter how hard you try, the dark side of religion always has a way of following you. This story meant a lot to me as someone who escaped a family cult and hyper-religious social circle when I was a teenager. Even though some things are dramatized for the sake of the story, the lengths people will go to convert people to their faith when they are enmeshed in fundamentalism are portrayed in chilling and relatable ways.

Crafting for Sinners is written in the same vein as Camp Damascus and other queer horror, but I think it takes a slightly more cozy and fun approach to the genre than other recent releases. I think a sequel would be absolutely delightful! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers at Quirk Books for sending me an e-ARC!

This is definitely gory horror. Which is exactly how I like it. If you like gory, visceral, descriptive horror than this book is for you. Some of the things that happen are so absurd that I did tag it as humorous because I was laughing, but you would need a dark sense of humor to find it funny, which I do. Read at your own risk trigger warning for gore.

What a weird, wild ride. Enjoyed this horror show of a cannibalistic mega-church cult in Kentucky, I was rooting for Ruth the whole time!

I love cult horror and this one, which is very obviously directed at the real cult horrors of evangelical Christians in the US (and Hobby Lobby, let's just say it) was so much fun. Like a horror b-movie full of high tension, snark, and fantastic death scenes. As a fan of B grade horror, this was right up my alley.
Wonderful representation not only of sapphic characters (yay Bi rep) but also diabetes, an invisible disability that here was shown definitely affects folks especially in a survival situation.
Ruth's character arc, from someone who is scared and without personhood to a badass taking down a cult and loving her girlfriend, was inspiring.
As someone who is queer, disabled, and grew up in an evangelical church in Kentucky, this book hit home so hard. I feel like I know these characters, the good and the bad. Thank you Jenny Kiefer for writing it.

Note: this has nothing to do with Keifer's work but is meant for the publisher and, perhaps, Netgally. This ARC was poorly formatted. I almost DNF'd it on that alone. The way the walls of text were so badly laid out it was difficult to read some pages without my eyes sliding over the text. I had to re-read some parts multiple times to understand it. This is a shame because the book is good. Please consider this for future ARCs. Penguin is a big enough publisher that this sort of unprofessional action is laughable

A Gruesome Thriller with a Soul!

The premise of this novel had me sold before I had even finished the first paragraph. A lesbian attempting to escape a craft store run by religious zealots?! - Count me INNN! Pulse-pounding religious trauma is the forefront of this novel. Readers beware, this one isn’t for the faint of heart. I am sure that you’re imagining knitting needles entering bodies and that is a possibility within these pages, however there is so much more to discover. There are action sequences that made me physically cringe because of how gruesomely they were written. There are

Naturally this story also has a lot of HEART! There is a beating heart and soul in the center of this story that readers are going to connect with. It’s relatable and the cause is worth fighting for. Not only is it self-preservation, but it’s fighting for TRUE LOVE! Not only is this something that kept me engaged, but I was INVESTED - I was ready to start swinging craft supplies myself!

This is a perfect story for fans of Taylor Adams thrillers or fans of the Last Shift/Malum movies! Check these out - you’re going to LOVE IT!

Maybe I just need to stop saying I'm not a horror reader, because I read and enjoy way too much horror to keep clinging to this belief.

Crafting For Sinners has an INCREDIBLE premise, and as someone that grew up in an family that wasn't super religious but watched family cling to religion to feel some sense of belonging, a lot of this book hit close to home.

The idea of being trapped in a craft store and fighting for my life against evangelicals that want me dead simply because of my queerness is honestly (and horrifyingly) not that far fetched! I love the idea of Ruth having to fight her way out of a store that once employed her and tried to force her into their mold and ways of thinking. The were some really intense scenes of her trapped in there that really got my heart pumping.

There was definitely more gore than I anticipated (but I am a HUGE wimp, so I'm sure for someone that reads a lot of horror, this is nothing) and the scene with the rats? Ugh. Horrible, but I couldn't stop reading to see how Ruth would get out of it.

My only "complaint" is that I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. I get it, I just didn't love it, haha.

Overall, this was a fast paced, quick read that I enjoyed!

In the lineage of Grady Hendrix but deeply, fiercely original. Couldn't put this down at all! Thank you!