diff --git a/lib/marked.js b/lib/marked.js
index 731b513a4f..ba9abac82d 100644
--- a/lib/marked.js
+++ b/lib/marked.js
@@ -631,31 +631,44 @@
             addBack,
             loose,
             istask,
-            ischecked;
+            ischecked,
+            endMatch;
         var l = itemMatch.length;
         bcurr = this.rules.block.listItemStart.exec(itemMatch[0]);
 
         for (var i = 0; i < l; i++) {
           item = itemMatch[i];
-          raw = item; // Determine whether the next list item belongs here.
+          raw = item;
+
+          if (!this.options.pedantic) {
+            // Determine if current item contains the end of the list
+            endMatch = item.match(new RegExp('\\n\\s*\\n {0,' + (bcurr[0].length - 1) + '}\\S'));
+
+            if (endMatch) {
+              addBack = item.length - endMatch.index + itemMatch.slice(i + 1).join('\n').length;
+              list.raw = list.raw.substring(0, list.raw.length - addBack);
+              item = item.substring(0, endMatch.index + 1);
+              raw = item;
+              l = i + 1;
+            }
+          } // Determine whether the next list item belongs here.
           // Backpedal if it does not belong in this list.
 
+
           if (i !== l - 1) {
             bnext = this.rules.block.listItemStart.exec(itemMatch[i + 1]);
 
-            if (!this.options.pedantic ? bnext[1].length > bcurr[0].length || bnext[1].length > 3 : bnext[1].length > bcurr[1].length) {
-              // nested list
-              itemMatch.splice(i, 2, itemMatch[i] + '\n' + itemMatch[i + 1]);
+            if (!this.options.pedantic ? bnext[1].length >= bcurr[0].length || bnext[1].length > 3 : bnext[1].length > bcurr[1].length) {
+              // nested list or continuation
+              itemMatch.splice(i, 2, itemMatch[i] + (!this.options.pedantic && bnext[1].length < bcurr[0].length && !itemMatch[i].match(/\n$/) ? '' : '\n') + itemMatch[i + 1]);
               i--;
               l--;
               continue;
-            } else {
-              if ( // different bullet style
-              !this.options.pedantic || this.options.smartLists ? bnext[2][bnext[2].length - 1] !== bull[bull.length - 1] : isordered === (bnext[2].length === 1)) {
-                addBack = itemMatch.slice(i + 1).join('\n');
-                list.raw = list.raw.substring(0, list.raw.length - addBack.length);
-                i = l - 1;
-              }
+            } else if ( // different bullet style
+            !this.options.pedantic || this.options.smartLists ? bnext[2][bnext[2].length - 1] !== bull[bull.length - 1] : isordered === (bnext[2].length === 1)) {
+              addBack = itemMatch.slice(i + 1).join('\n').length;
+              list.raw = list.raw.substring(0, list.raw.length - addBack);
+              i = l - 1;
             }
 
             bcurr = bnext;
@@ -1179,7 +1192,7 @@
   block.bullet = /(?:[*+-]|\d{1,9}[.)])/;
   block.item = /^( *)(bull) ?[^\n]*(?:\n(?! *bull ?)[^\n]*)*/;
   block.item = edit$1(block.item, 'gm').replace(/bull/g, block.bullet).getRegex();
-  block.listItemStart = edit$1(/^( *)(bull)/).replace('bull', block.bullet).getRegex();
+  block.listItemStart = edit$1(/^( *)(bull) */).replace('bull', block.bullet).getRegex();
   block.list = edit$1(block.list).replace(/bull/g, block.bullet).replace('hr', '\\n+(?=\\1?(?:(?:- *){3,}|(?:_ *){3,}|(?:\\* *){3,})(?:\\n+|$))').replace('def', '\\n+(?=' + block.def.source + ')').getRegex();
   block._tag = 'address|article|aside|base|basefont|blockquote|body|caption' + '|center|col|colgroup|dd|details|dialog|dir|div|dl|dt|fieldset|figcaption' + '|figure|footer|form|frame|frameset|h[1-6]|head|header|hr|html|iframe' + '|legend|li|link|main|menu|menuitem|meta|nav|noframes|ol|optgroup|option' + '|p|param|section|source|summary|table|tbody|td|tfoot|th|thead|title|tr' + '|track|ul';
   block._comment = /<!--(?!-?>)[\s\S]*?(?:-->|$)/;