I wouldn't call Jodi Picoult a romance author. The Pact is about a teen couple who make a suicide pact. Vanishing Acts is about a woman who finds out that she was kidnapped as a child by her father. My Sister's Keeper is about a girl who was conceived just so she could save her older sister's life by donating her cells, etc to cure her cancer.
Jodi Picoult does a TON of research. Her books are fiction but they are very realistic and loaded with facts. They seem like the stories could be real.