Either I didn't notice that Hunger Games was written in Present Progressive (usually I cannot finish anything written in the present tense) when I read it several years ago or it was decent enough to hold my attention despite that.

If you're referring to the second half of the book about Katniss' lack of emotion, I tend to think it's supposed to represent the avoidance/withdrawal stage of PTSD.

I'm not wild about Hunger Games, but I don't actively dislike it. I enjoyed it when I read it, but I'm unlikely to re-read or look for the sequels. My rating was "above average for teenage-marketed adventure," but it not being a cheap "Teenager is a spy" novel probably bumped that up a bit.

Meh. They compare everything to Twilight or Harry Potter nowadays.

...even though I downloaded a sample chapter of HG, just to check what you said.

1. Present progressive is stuff like "I'm reading." Yes, it is in present tense, but it's not suffering from ing disease. But present tense itself is not a sign for bad writing. A matter of taste, yes, but not bad writing.

2. I'm beginning to suspect that it's the translation, because the writing I saw was concise and rather constantly in present tense (except for things in the past).

3. No emotion? Nah, not so sure about that. There's relief/happiness when she meets up with Gale, amusement at his accent, disappointment at her mother... again, this might be the translation not getting it across.

4. Your writing was just beige.