It took me finishing this book and looking up the author to realize that she wrote “This Wretched Valley,” which I read last year and seemed to enjoy more than most people. This is also horror, but it felt completely different. The story revolves around Ruth, a queer woman living with her girlfriend, Abigail, in a very conservative, very bigoted town in Kentucky called Kill Devil. Abigail is desperate to move away from Kill Devil so she and Ruth can live more openly and without fear, while Ruth finds herself held back by fear of the unknown and the possibility of Abigail leaving her. While Ruth is at the town’s only crafts store which just so happens to be owned by the giant, fundamentalist christian church that has taken over Kill Devil, she is caught shoplifting, held in the store, and forced to fight for her life. This is horrifying and sly and occasionally kind of funny. I felt like the book was intense from the jump. The justified paranoia that Abigail lives with and the feeling that you’re always being watched are present immediately and the story builds on that atmosphere. I had fun with this and also felt that Kiefer really elucidates the dangers of a faith built on hate and discrimination in a way that feels unique.

Past Kelsey

Chapter one starts with:

Stab.

Strangle.

Pull out the guts.

Ruth repeated the refrain in her head and she worked her stitches across the row.

OH HELL YEAH! This book is already grabbing my attention.

Future Kelsey

If you are also bisexual with a religious trauma, I'd say pick this up. This book definitely fits into the bad bitch genre.

I really really wanted to like this one. I absolutely love the cover, and the premise of a woman being trapped in a craft store while fighting off religious cult members sounded like so much fun. Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. First off, I didn't like the main character Ruth. Almost everything we find out about her and her relationships with people are told through snippets and flashbacks, so we don't really see her engaging in any of those relationships. It made it hard for me to feel invested or really care about her and the other characters that we're supposed to be rooting for. And once she's in the store and begins realizing that people are coming after her, she very quickly switches from "survival mode" to "killer mode." Instead of focusing on self-defense and finding the quickest way out, she focuses on how many people she can kill and how violently she can do it. It was a pretty jarring switch, and she even admits to feeling gleeful about it.

Because of all these fights/attacks against Ruth, she is one big bloody pulp by the end of the book. She's bleeding from every orifice, has many broken bones, her blood sugar is in constant flux, and she probably has a nasty concussion. But she's also running around this whole compound many times including running up and down stone stairs on a broken/sprained ankle. She should be barely standing, not running around like nothing's wrong. I'm also convinced that she would've bled out from all of her wounds way before we reach the climax of the story.

We are also told that Ruth is queer and that she has diabetes. Those are the two main characteristics that she's given, and it is repeated over and over again. Like, give me something else to work with! Those are not the things that should be defining a person. I need some more personality to shine through. She also is entirely too trusting of people (given her situation), and she makes so many dumb decisions throughout.

The majority of this book is set inside the craft store and cult "underground," and I would estimate that almost 90% of this book is just Ruth running and hiding from the cult members. It got very boring and repetitive, and I just wanted something else, anything else, to happen. Most of what we learn about the cult is through exposition- almost every time Ruth is in a hiding spot, she just so happens to overhear someone talking about their plans for her and why exactly they are trying to catch her. It's so convenient, and honestly it feels like lazy writing. When someone isn't outright telling her their plans, she's hearing it over the walkie talkie or from a pair who are chatting right outside of her hiding spot.

I also don't really understand the cult's ideology. Are they a fundamentalist group? They're ultra conservative, with "traditional" christian values, sporting scripture, "modest clothing," and gender roles. But they also build a mega-church, which is much more "new wave" as well as having relics and artifacts on display, which feels more catholic. Then they're also into crafting their own chants/mantras (not from the Bible), have "magic" relics/objects that imbue the wearer/holder with specials powers, and they deal in human sacrifice. So, what's their deal? It's such a hodge podge that it really makes no sense to me. And then the ending?? Does that not completely undermine what the rest of the book was trying to get across?? I'm honestly so confused.

I've seen a few reviewers say that this book is *almost there, and that it needs a few more revisions, and I have to agree. I love the concept, but it's not there yet for me. It needs to be tightened up and edited a bit more. I want to understand the cult's ideology and feel more connected to the characters.

Craft hobbies infused with horror, what a concept!

With Crafting For Sinners Jenny Kiefer conjurs a story of terrifying survival, where protagonist Ruth finds herself trapped in a craft store in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Armed only with the contents of her tote bag, Ruth must get out of the store, get home to her girlfriend Abigail, and get the hell out of Kill Devil, Kentucky.

Using this story setup, Kiefer crafts an eerie single-location survival horror story. If you're a fan of isolated thrillers like Green Room or Die Hard, you really can't go wrong here. Every part of the craft toolbox is used here, with numerous stomach-churning scenes that showcase Kiefer's flair for the disturbing and horrific. It seriously makes you desperate to see Ruth escape the New Creations store.

Much like the story smashes together crafts and horror, the book combines its narrative and fictional media in the form of podcasts and news stories. This mixed-media approach results in a feeling that this simple story hides something greater and darker.

Overall, a really thrilling and fast-paced ride! I definitely recommend it if you're into both horror and crafts as I am.

Immense thanks to Netgalley and Quirk Books for providing access to a digital ARC! This book drops on October 7, check it out!


My review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMUpzuWTkia/
My review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7699338254

4.5 rounded up because wowoweewow

Few things make me angrier than the words of hatred cloaked as Christianity, cherry-picked as seen fit to suit their ideas and screamed into some weird echo chamber of delusion...it's no wonder the line between cults and religion can be so thin. So it makes me so very, very happy to see a horror novel take on that task. Even moreso, with a queer main character who you will definitely be cheering for! The craft store can be no other than Hobby Lobby...I mean, where else can you find a craft store that has an aisle especially for crosses.

This is VERY much Horrorstor meets Camp Damascus, both books I highly recommend. The Wretched Valley, Kiefer's previous work is one I constantly recommend too (it's fantastic wilderness horror). The cover is incredible, I mean STUNNING. I will be recommending this to all horror lovers when it's out in October!

My only complaint? Leave the rats alone! hahaha

Crafting for Sinners was so good, I could not put it down. I really enjoyed how it kept me on the edge of my seat and kept me wanting more. Ruth gave me anxiety the whole story lol 4.5 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

A fast and fun slice of sugary religious horror, Crafting for Sinners is a gory tale of queer identity and religious trauma, all wrapped up in a sinister hobbycraft store in a sleepy right-wing town. Bloody and bloody good fun.

Ruth has been repeatedly shoplifting from New Creations craft store as revenge after being fired for her sexuality, despite her girlfriend Abigail's warnings to stop - but when she's finally caught, the employees lock her inside and hunt her down instead of calling the police. Which is weird enough, but their plans for her are clearly much worse. What should be a tense survival horror of Ruth fighting her way out using crafting supplies turns into an endless slog of her creeping between shelves while fretting about her blood sugar, and bizarre slapstick murder and destruction (I couldn't tell if this was meant to be funny or not?? )The violence feels repetitively excessive, like it's doing the work the plot should be doing, and random podcast segments get thrown in that feel like a missed opportunity to actually connect to the story. The ending itself worked until the epilogue takes a sharp turn that feels like something from a cheesy TV movie, completely undercutting everything that came before. I do love Ruth's internal dialogue though, which consisted chiefly of "fuck these fuckers." Which, fair.

Thank you Netgalley and Jenny Quirk Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Imagine “Home Alone”—if Kevin were a queer adult woman, the booby traps were made from yarn and glue guns, and the intruders were bloodthirsty religious fanatics bent on ritual sacrifice. That’s the wickedly clever, gory, and emotionally charged premise behind “Crafting for Sinners,” Jenny Kiefer’s brutal and unforgettable horror novel that explores cult commentary, queer rage, and survival horror into a blood-soaked yarn.

The story centers on Ruth, a queer crafter living in the ultra-conservative town of Kill Devil, Kentucky. Once employed at the local craft store, New Creations, she was fired after her relationship with her childhood best friend turned fiancée, Abigail, was deemed “immoral” by the evangelical megachurch that controls the town. Her quiet rebellion? Stealing yarn from the store. But when a quick theft goes sideways, Ruth is trapped in the building and what begins as petty crime spirals into a full-on nightmare.

New Creations isn’t just a craft store. It’s a front for a cult called the New Creationists, who believe Ruth must be sacrificed to atone for the town’s sins. But these zealots might not be worshiping God at all—something darker and more demonic lurks in the small town. Ruth is hunted, tortured, and pursued through the aisles of glitter and cross-stitch kits, all while managing her diabetes and trying not to bleed out. She uses everything at her disposal including knitting needles and hot glue guns to fight back in an increasingly desperate bid for survival.

The pacing is relentless, with a sense of claustrophobic dread that rarely lets up. Kiefer dives almost immediately into action, delivering visceral, inventive kills and shocking body horror. A few scenes, especially one involving rats, veer toward surreal grotesquery, and the gore is often graphic enough to unsettle even seasoned horror readers. It's a bloodbath with heart, though; Ruth isn’t a traditional Final Girl. She’s vulnerable, flawed, and often naive, making questionable decisions, but she's also determined, brave, and heartbreakingly human.

The book’s strength lies in its queer themes and pointed social commentary. Kiefer draws a sharp line between religious fundamentalism and queer repression, tackling real-life bigotry with both satirical bite and genuine sorrow. The horror is exaggerated, but the hate it’s based on feels terrifyingly plausible. There’s a layer of grief and identity trauma beneath the gore where Ruth isn’t just fighting for her life; she’s fighting for the right to exist, to love, and to tell her own story.

Stylistically, Kiefer's prose has a dark poetic flair, with sharp one-liners and emotionally charged imagery; these lines hit hard and elevate what might otherwise be dismissed as a pulpy splatterfest. There’s even a podcast subplot featuring transcripts of long-missing persons threaded through the main story, suggesting Ruth’s ordeal is part of a larger, sinister legacy. While I wished these podcast segments continued further into the story, they add depth and a creeping sense of inevitability and showed that something isn’t right with the religion in this town.

Not every thread lands perfectly. The story’s tight focus on the store setting makes the middle feel a bit repetitive, and the relationship between Ruth and Abigail—childhood best friends turned lovers—could have used more development. Some of Ruth’s choices strain belief, and the ending, while emotionally satisfying and cathartic, leaves a bit of a Goosebumps-style twist that won’t be to everyone’s taste. Still, the central arc with Ruth taking back her power with blood-streaked crochet hooks and raw determination is immensely gratifying.

Overall, “Crafting for Sinners” is a bold, vicious, and deeply cathartic horror novel. It’s equal parts slasher, survival story, and queer scream of resistance—an indictment of religious hypocrisy stitched with yarn, blood, and grief. Jenny Kiefer has crafted a novel that is at once horrifying and empowering. For fans of queer horror, cult fiction, or anyone who’s ever wanted to stab a bigot with a knitting needle, this book is an absolute must-read.

Crafting for sinners is set to reshape the horror genre as we know it with truly masterful writing and phenomenal representation throughout. With sapphic main characters (both bisexual and lesbian) stranded through lack of means to leave in a town thats been taken over by a mega church and its strange sister craft store, this book confront, conversion, religious extremism, and presents honestly hell on earth with our MC's experiences in the aisles of New Creations craft store. Gory and violent, our MC finds her self trapped by the cultish community thats taken over their town fighting for both her survival and her blood sugar (due to her diabetes) as she fights her way to freedom in the aisles of her local craft store.

This is a masterpiece that I see becoming a staple in the genre and will definitely be watching our author Jenny Kiefer to see what she writes next. While this is a horror, it is somewhat expected to be dark, but I would nonetheless recommend engaging with the trigger warnings when diving into this as it has factors such as cannibalism, family estrangement, death and sacrifice to name a few. With so many secrets waiting to be unveiled you need to dig into this sooner rather than later!

Fun, queer, culty horrorness.
I can safely say, I've never read a book like this one before.
The commentary on religion and queerness was apt and thoughtfully woven into the story.
Reading this book almost felt like playing yarn chicken (my crocheting friends will understand): I was on tenterhooks the whole time.
My only gripe was that I'd have liked the podcast segments to continue throughout.
The world needs more queer horror!

Ruth and her girlfriend, Abigail, are desperately trying to leave the conservative town of Kill Devil, Kentucky. Diabetic and fired from her job at the church-owned craft store for being romantically involved with a woman, Ruth has been raising money through knitting commissions. When a customer offers her a premium to finish a baby blanket by tomorrow, Ruth rushes out to the New Creations craft store to get her final skeins of yarn. When she's caught stuffing the skeins under her sweatshirt, Ruth thinks that the worst that will happen is that she'll be held in a detention cell until Abigail can pick her up, but the New Creationists have other plans--they want to consume her flesh to purge the town of sins. Unfortunately for them, Ruth knows the layout of New Creations, and even if they're hiding the blades from her sight, she knows how to grab knitting needles.

'Crafting for Sinners' is a bloody romp through a backwoods Hobby Lobby, and I am here for it. I'll admit my biases here--I grew up around Appalachia with similarly bigoted peers, so seeing people like that getting wrecked with super glue put a smile on my face. And boy, are these deaths gruesome! With the current political climate handing way too many wins to hateful people under the guise of being 'good Christian values', it's cathartic to read a book where these people are the undeniable bad guys.

With that said, there is a major pacing problem with 'Crafting for Sinners', which becomes most notable when the narrative leaves the craft store. Maybe I just wanted more gory craft store deaths, or maybe I'm just a little bummed that Ruth didn't end up snacking on any of the icing or melting chocolates in the baking section, but the crafting store background is the most fun and unique part of the novel, so it feels a little sad once we've left it. Same with how many times in the ending Ruth blindly trusts someone who seems rather suspicious and ends up being brought back to captivity... I get that she isn't in the right state of mind, but it happens twice in a row and she's surprised each time.

If you're looking for a serious or dramatic horror book, 'Crafting for Sinners' might not fill that niche, but if you want something that's campy, unapologetically bloody, and a delightful middle finger towards homophobic Christians, it's a great pick. Also... man, it's really strange that Hobby Lobby's Hammurabi robbing hobby wasn't as big of a story as it should have been, isn't it? I'm glad this book has its Hobby Lobby equivalent also stealing ancient tablets--that was screwed up.

A small-town horror, a cult, and a woman who crafts?!? What could be better?!? I guess it would be the crafter getting caught for shoplifting at her job (a Christian owned crafting store) that fires her for being a lesbian! I loved this book and was pleasantly surprised at the horror that is portrayed in the book! I did feel uneasy through this book, but the ways the horror was done in a craft store was imaginative. This was a fun read, and I am now a fan of Jenny Kiefer and will be on the lookout for more of her work!

The premise of the book made me giddily interested. I was ready to eat it all up: the queer landscape positioning, the political now climate interspersing with the story’s commentary, and all the supernatural elements—sans religious hysteria—blending seamlessly into its thematic undercurrent. I needed it. It speaks savagely to the rise of conservatism; it’s a gaze into the current mutilation of queer rights here and there, and the insidious rise of religious despotic systems desperate to strip away the rights of marginalized people.

The first few chapters held that promise. The slasher vibe, the final girl queer storyline I expected, and all the queerness, nuanced and stitched into the character’s arc, fulfilled that intention. Then, the plot unraveled into ribbons of cult-level conspiracy—speculatively real, adjacent to the current political climate, and disturbingly accurate in its reflection of reality.

I wanted to love this book throughout, but it fell short for me as it went on. The pacing dragged. While the viscous interiority of the character and the fleshed-out plot were fully formed, I couldn’t wade through its sluggish tempo. The density—the stylistic choice of language—was thick to the point of suffocation, leaving little room to breathe, especially as the horror reached its apex.

It’s genuinely scary: gory, bloody, festering. Sometimes laugh-out-loud funny at the absurdity of the religious-cult-hivemind characters. But I didn’t enjoy the pacing, especially when the intensity should have been peaking—it fizzled because of the language’s lushness.

Still, this is a good read. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy slashers, cult vibes, suffocating survival horror, and queer horror that grapples with the social crises we’re living through now.

Just when I think I have the heart of my top books of the year situated, Jenny Kiefer shoves a knitting needle right into it with Crafting for Sinners. This book at times made me laugh with absolute shock, cringe in horror and disgust, and cry for the plight that this wonderful FMC goes through.

I wanted to start by saying Ruth is one of my favorite characters in a book ever. She is so smart and capable, but not infallible, and she just never, ever stops fighting. There are moments in this book that I was in so much suspense and fear for this character both physically and emotionally, Kiefer really has created a fully formed breathing character that takes the final girl, Kevin from Home Alone and John McClane from Die Hard and makes it all her own.

Ruth is a queer woman living in Kill Devil, Kentucky, a town pretty much owned by the New Creationists, a Westboro Baptist style hate church that also owns the Hobby Lobby inspired crafting shop that Ruth was fired from for having a girlfriend and now shoplifts from to make ends meet through her crafting work.

One day she goes in and the store is suspiciously empty. She grabs the yarn she needs but when she tries to leave she is approached by an employee out of nowhere and she realizes in quick succession that she has been locked inside the store and she is in mortal danger.

Where the book goes from there is both an absolute survival horror thrill ride, and a brilliant social commentary perfect for the times we find ourselves in. There is not a dull moment in this book, you will not catch your breath for more than a moment and the ending to this one is so completely earned. Preorder now, it comes out October 7th and everyone is going to be talking about it, because it’s that good.

I honestly don’t think I can finish this one. This story could have been a novella. It’s so repetitive and overly descriptive and I’m finding myself getting lost and losing focus to what I’m reading. I loved the concept so much and had no doubt I wouldn’t love this but yeah it’s not great. And since it’s basically a locked room survival horror it just comes off super repetitive where you feel like the story isn’t progressing.

Rounding up from 2.5 stars. DNF'ed at 50%.

I was absolutely here for the set up of the book - a not-so-subtle take down of Hobby Lobby in which a religious cult attempts to kidnap a bi woman in the knitting department for some clearly bad stuff? Sign me up. And there were some parts of the book that were at least interesting, including the many ways in which crafting gear can be used as violent and fatal instruments. (A little side story featuring a true crime podcast was also a little interesting at first, although I lost interest in even that).

The story was gorier than I like, but that's a personal preference. What bothered me more was a lack of sophistication in the writing and story telling. It could be quite clunky at times, with some rather obvious and ridiculous chunks of info dumping. And Ruth, our MC, was frustratingly dumb to spend time with. She often made silly choices or was just bad at making decisions. I wanted to root for her, but she made it hard.

Well, that was exceedingly gory. Nothing wrong with that, but I wasn't expecting it. What I didn't love was the lack of characterization and repetition; this book could've been a lot stronger.

when i saw this book on Netgalley, i requested it right away as it seemed right up my alley. i love fun horror books and have a strange fascination with mega churches. plus, i’d read Jenny Kiefer’s debut, This Wretched Valley, last year and thought it was ok.

overall, i think Crafting for Sinners was a decent horror comedy. it was a truly unique, wacky, and wild ride filled with tons of blood and gore, creepy cult rituals, and revenge.

however, i do have a few gripes hence the 3 star rating.

the first 60% was honestly kind of boring and mostly consists of Ruth fighting her way through the store and hiding in tight places while her pursuers conveniently speak in exposition right within her earshot. i understand that the craft store element was the hook for the story but i think this section could’ve been cut down as it started to feel dragging repetitive.

the writing style was also very telling instead of showing. for instance, we’re told over and over again by Ruth how much she loves her girlfriend Abigail and is doing everything just so she can return to her. however, imo we didn’t get to know Abigail and see her and Ruth together enough to make me be invested in their relationship.

nonetheless, there were many elements to this book that i really enjoyed.

the premise and setting were super fun. i loved seeing Ruth being creative with her choice of weaponry amongst the crafty wares. plus, New Creations being a pseudo Hobby Lobby (down to the details about barcodes being the sign of the devil) was so funny.

the book definitely began picking up steam once the weird culty stuff started happening. the cult itself was very interesting in how it combines both the stereotypical kind of cult (blood rituals and sacrifices etc.) with the modern version of cults (mega churches and weaponized christianity etc.).

i liked the bits of mixed media interspersed throughout. it was like a fun puzzle trying to work out how it all fit together.

Ruth was a likeable mc. i related to her a lot as someone who was also raised religious but then became disillusioned by and then left the church after developing critical thinking skills. i also appreciated her commitment to being a tote bag baddie lol.

I loved the premise of this book. It was so campy and I really appreciate the advocation of crafting stores being a great location for any future apocalyptic/fight for your life scenario. Honestly, its a genre I didn't know I needed more of. That said, I wish the book had just a little bit more. I think it built up and any revelations happened a little too quickly at the end, but simultaneously too slowly for the entirety of the book. It is definitely worth the read, especially if you aren't too squeamish. I definitely had to close my eyes at some points just to remind myself I wasn't trapped in the store as well. Great job!