diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 # Changelog for commonmark
 
+## 0.2.6
+
+  * Make list tightness match the reference implementation closer (#150,
+    Michael Howell). This solves the problem where blank lines in the middle
+    of a list are attributed to the list itself instead of the item, making its
+    parent list become spuriously loose.
+
+  * Fix bug with entities inside link destinations (#149).
+    The bug affects cases like this: `[link](\!)`; the backslash
+    escape was being ignored here.
+
+  * Commonmark.Entity: export `pEntity` [API change].
+
 ## 0.2.5.1
 
   * Replace `source` with `search` in list of block tags.
diff --git a/commonmark.cabal b/commonmark.cabal
--- a/commonmark.cabal
+++ b/commonmark.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version:  2.2
 name:           commonmark
-version:        0.2.5.1
+version:        0.2.6
 synopsis:       Pure Haskell commonmark parser.
 description:
    This library provides the core data types and functions
diff --git a/src/Commonmark/Blocks.hs b/src/Commonmark/Blocks.hs
--- a/src/Commonmark/Blocks.hs
+++ b/src/Commonmark/Blocks.hs
@@ -856,10 +856,10 @@
              let lidata = fromDyn (blockData ndata)
                              (ListItemData (BulletList '*') 0 False False)
              -- a marker followed by two blanks is just an empty item:
-             guard $ null (blockBlanks ndata) ||
-                     not (null children)
              pos <- getPosition
-             gobbleSpaces (listItemIndent lidata) <|> 0 <$ lookAhead blankLine
+             case blockBlanks ndata of
+                  _:_ | null children -> lookAhead blankLine
+                  _ -> () <$ gobbleSpaces (listItemIndent lidata) <|> lookAhead blankLine
              return (pos, node)
      , blockConstructor    = fmap mconcat . renderChildren
      , blockFinalize       = \(Node cdata children) parent -> do
diff --git a/src/Commonmark/Entity.hs b/src/Commonmark/Entity.hs
--- a/src/Commonmark/Entity.hs
+++ b/src/Commonmark/Entity.hs
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@
   ( lookupEntity
   , charEntity
   , numEntity
+  , pEntity
   , unEntity
   )
 where
 
-import Data.Functor.Identity (Identity)
 import qualified Data.Map.Strict as Map
 import Commonmark.TokParsers
 import Commonmark.Tokens
@@ -2335,14 +2335,15 @@
 
 unEntity :: [Tok] -> Text
 unEntity ts = untokenize $
-  case parse (many (pEntity' <|> anyTok)) "" ts of
+  case parse (many (pEntity <|> anyTok)) "" ts of
         Left _    -> ts
         Right ts' -> ts'
-  where pEntity' :: ParsecT [Tok] () Identity Tok
-        pEntity' = try $ do
-          pos <- getPosition
-          symbol '&'
-          ent <- untokenize <$> (numEntity <|> charEntity)
-          case lookupEntity ent of
-                Just s  -> return $ Tok WordChars pos s
-                Nothing -> mzero
+
+pEntity :: Monad m => ParsecT [Tok] s m Tok
+pEntity = try $ do
+  pos <- getPosition
+  symbol '&'
+  ent <- untokenize <$> (numEntity <|> charEntity)
+  case lookupEntity ent of
+        Just s  -> return $ Tok WordChars pos s
+        Nothing -> mzero
diff --git a/src/Commonmark/Inlines.hs b/src/Commonmark/Inlines.hs
--- a/src/Commonmark/Inlines.hs
+++ b/src/Commonmark/Inlines.hs
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@
 import qualified Data.Set                   as Set
 import           Data.Text                  (Text)
 import qualified Data.Text                  as T
-import           Commonmark.Entity          (unEntity, charEntity, numEntity)
+import           Commonmark.Entity          (unEntity, charEntity, numEntity,
+                                             pEntity)
 import           Text.Parsec                hiding (State, space)
 import           Text.Parsec.Pos
 
@@ -906,7 +907,7 @@
 pInlineLink = try $ do
   _ <- symbol '('
   optional whitespace
-  target <- unEntity <$> pLinkDestination
+  target <- untokenize <$> pLinkDestination
   optional whitespace
   title <- option "" $
              unEntity <$> (pLinkTitle <* optional whitespace)
@@ -922,7 +923,8 @@
     pAngleDest = do
       _ <- symbol '<'
       res <- many (noneOfToks [Symbol '<', Symbol '>', Symbol '\\',
-                                LineEnd] <|> pEscaped)
+                               Symbol '&', LineEnd]
+                    <|> pEscaped <|> pEntity <|> symbol '&')
       _ <- symbol '>'
       return res
 
@@ -935,7 +937,8 @@
     pNormalDest' numparens
      | numparens > 32 = mzero
      | otherwise = (do
-          t <- satisfyTok (\case
+          t <- pEntity <|>
+                satisfyTok (\case
                            Tok (Symbol '\\') _ _ -> True
                            Tok (Symbol ')') _ _  -> numparens >= 1
                            Tok Spaces _ _        -> False
diff --git a/test/regression.md b/test/regression.md
--- a/test/regression.md
+++ b/test/regression.md
@@ -350,3 +350,103 @@
 <!x
 >
 ````````````````````````````````
+
+Issue #149
+```````````````````````````````` example
+[link](\&#33;)
+
+[link](&#33;)
+.
+<p><a href="&amp;#33;">link</a></p>
+<p><a href="!">link</a></p>
+````````````````````````````````
+
+Issue #144
+```````````````````````````````` example
++ Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+  * This nested list is definitely tight.
+  -
+
+
+  -
+.
+<ul>
+<li>Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+<ul>
+<li>This nested list is definitely tight.</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li></li>
+<li></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+````````````````````````````````
+```````````````````````````````` example
++ Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+  * This nested list is definitely tight.
+  - First item
+
+
+  -
+.
+<ul>
+<li>Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+<ul>
+<li>This nested list is definitely tight.</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<p>First item</p>
+</li>
+<li></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+````````````````````````````````
+```````````````````````````````` example
++ Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+  * This nested list is definitely tight.
+  -
+
+
+  - Second item
+.
+<ul>
+<li>Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+<ul>
+<li>This nested list is definitely tight.</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li></li>
+<li>
+<p>Second item</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+````````````````````````````````
+```````````````````````````````` example
++ Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+  * This nested list is definitely tight.
+  - First item
+
+
+  - Second item
+.
+<ul>
+<li>Is this wrapping list tight, or loose?
+<ul>
+<li>This nested list is definitely tight.</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<p>First item</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p>Second item</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+````````````````````````````````