Tenses: talking about one's reaction to a novel or film

[Spacecheese]

If I want to tell someone (in a letter) what I've felt about a certain part of a film or a novel when I was doing the reading or the watching, do I say: "The part where the villain appears out of nowhere really gave me a fright/ nearly made my heart stop" or "The part where the villain appeared out of nowhere really gave me a fright/ nearly made my heart stop"?
In other words: present tense for the description of the novel/film and past tense for my reaction, or past tense for the both parts of the sentence?

[emsr2d2]

If I want to tell someone (in a letter) what I've felt about a certain part of a film or a novel when I was doing the reading or the watching, do I say: "The part where the villain appears out of nowhere really gave me a fright/ nearly made my heart stop" or "The part where the villain appeared out of nowhere really gave me a fright/ nearly made my heart stop"?
In other words: present tense for the description of the novel/film and past tense for my reaction, or past tense for the both parts of the sentence?

They're both fine and both used.