So...I Met a Vampire Discussion #1

In our goodreads group Read Together, Blog Together, we read So...I Met a Vampire by Paul McAvoy. Here's the cover and synopsis as well as some thoughts regarding the first half of the novel.

On a foggy morning, thirteen year old Jessica wakes up in a strange forest, not knowing how she got there, but with a feeling she is being watched. Helped to a local police station, memories start to come back, about where she has been the last few days… She remembers a deal she had to make to stay alive… to obtain a small bottle of vampire’s blood. With the use of a magical phone, her journey takes her to the English Lake District, a lonely Scottish village and the bright lights of New York. She meets mysterious men who work for a secret government organisation and a vampire who seems willing to help, but is he and his teenage vampire friends to be trusted? On the run, she must reach a government hide out before her adversaries catch up with her and take her to a realm of darkness and blood…

Chapters 1-6
*What are your thoughts about Jess in the first half? 
Courtney: Jess was kind of confusing and frustrating for me. She seemed like a really young kid at first, then when she met Devon she kind of turned into a punk teenager. Maybe it was the stress of what happened that dampened her personality at first, I'm not sure.

Victoria: It was hard to get to know her when she didn't know anything about herself. She also didn't seem to take her problems seriously, she was pretty casual about important stuff like dying.

*What did you think about the Reaper and his three challenges? 
Courtney: The concept of the three challenges was interesting and familiar from other stories. The challenges themselves were rather odd. I understood that he was kind of playing with her at first, and it made the story shorter to have only one main challenge, but I think it could have been interesting to have three larger challenges (all connected) that she had to complete in sequence. 

Victoria: I really liked the idea that only one challenge had to be serious, and that you could tell he was obviously making the other two up on the spot. But I wish we could have got to know him better, he was a bit too ditzy and forgetful to really like.

*What did you think of Charles Devon, the vampire expert? 
Courtney: Devon's introduction was kind of strange. He didn't seem to question who Jess was. He just picked up a random kid and had her tag along with him. I mean I guess he knew what was going on (to an extent), but I still would have liked more of an introduction as they were running away.

Victoria: Another person who is way too casual. I also didn't like that his story didn't wrap up properly.

If any of you have read this book, let me know your thoughts in the comments! If you haven't and are interested, please check it out. And visit our group if you're interested in book blog discussions!