It is formatted as a collection of seventeen interconnected narratives from the points of view of different people in various sorts of love.

Handler re-uses several names for major characters from earlier works, primarily Watch Your Mouth, including Joe, Steven, and Allison.

In "Arguably", a British writer (Helena), who is married to a man (David) whose ex is called "Andrea", needs money.

[4] In "Soundly", a woman (Allison)—who has an ex named "Adam"—spends an evening out with her best friend (Lila), who's dying of a rare disease, and they both focus on what their friendship means, particularly compared to their relationships with men.

In "Frigidly", a pair of detectives comes looking for the Snow Queen (Gladys) in a diner where Andrea is drinking at the counter.

"Collectively" is about a man who has a series of random people, including a mail carrier and his son (Mike), coming to his house to declare how much they love him.

In "Symbolically", an aspiring writer (Tomas) hooks up with a man (Adam) who has come to film a potential catastrophe.

In "Clearly", a young couple (Adam and Eddie) sneaks away into the woods for some risqué outdoor sex.

"Wrongly" features a graduate student (Allison) inexplicably drawn to a colleague (Steven) who's already treated her badly.

In the last story, "Judgmentally", Joe avoids jury duty and meets Andrea, who is driving a cab.

As characters, objects, and symbols, vault across plotlines to repeatedly re-emerge, and successive stories not only become stronger and better realized, but reflect back on previous chapters, the book takes on a keener, smarter edge.

"[1] Lucy Ellmann, writing for The Guardian, reviewed the book poorly: "The cute faux awkwardness, the pedantry proposed as mateyness, the tricksy reminders of the narrator's role, combined with ominous stories of young women going into the woods alone or getting into cars with strangers, and the requisite allusions to 9/11, all connive at seeming cool, timely, significant, memorable: teenage stuff.

"[5] Publishers Weekly gave Adverbs a starred review, praising its "linguistic pyrotechnics" and "blithe poignancy.