As a romance reader I prefer 3rd person narrative. 3rd person past tense to be exact. Example: She saw him from across the room and fell head over heels in love with him.
As a cozy mystery reader I prefer 1st person past tense. Example: I saw him across the room and fell head over heels in love with him. But I also enjoy 3rd person past tense in cozies as well.
However, I absolutely hate and will not read 3rd person present tense. It is very awkward for me to read, and pulls me out of a story. Example: She sees him from across the room and falls head over heels in love with him.
I bought a mystery recently that started in 1st person present. The character was engaging and I decided to give it a shot. The author then switched to 3rd person present tense, using several other characters point of views. Needless to say, I deleted that book. I should have probably asked for my money back, but I didn’t think about it at the time. I was so irritated and I felt like the author tricked me into buying it.
The point of the story is, it got me to wondering what others liked to read. Obviously, not everyone minds 3rd person present because the book I mentioned above was very popular. So what are your reading preferences?