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This pops up regularly on writers' boards, and it's usually extremely polarizing.
Some people love present tense because it provides a sense of immediacy, others hate it because they find it seems artificial, and the artifice outweighs the immediacy.
One problem is that because it's less common than "past" it's more noticeable, and because the reader is likely to be paying more attention to the writing they are more likely to notice when it's done badly.
The real issue is that when people dislike it, they often dislike it intensely and are very vocal about that dislike. There really are person who will put a book down and walk away the moment they see it's in present tense.
It can work very well - but using it will turn some people off.
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