I think the challenge comes down to navigating a landscape where mainstream platforms rarely stock certain genres, forcing you into specialized corners of the web. My approach is a hybrid: for ebooks, I scout aggregator sites that list works by small presses and independent authors, which often have direct download options in multiple formats. You need to be careful about file integrity, though—I've gotten a few EPUBs that were just poorly formatted text dumps. For audiobooks, subscription services that focus on romance sometimes include more explicit titles in their catalog, and they offer offline listening. It's not a perfect system, and I wish discovery was easier without wading through so much poorly tagged content.
Honestly, the legal aspect is a minefield. I prefer to buy directly from an author's website or a niche distributor when I can find one, because it ensures they get paid. There are a few forums where readers share recommendations for legitimate stores, which has been more helpful than any generic search. The whole process feels less like shopping and more like a research project, which is frustrating when you just want to read.