diff --git a/commons-serialize-xml/src/main/java/io/gitlab/jfronny/commons/serialize/xml/NativeXmlReader.java b/commons-serialize-xml/src/main/java/io/gitlab/jfronny/commons/serialize/xml/NativeXmlReader.java
index 7c5bd4e..faaa7d3 100644
--- a/commons-serialize-xml/src/main/java/io/gitlab/jfronny/commons/serialize/xml/NativeXmlReader.java
+++ b/commons-serialize-xml/src/main/java/io/gitlab/jfronny/commons/serialize/xml/NativeXmlReader.java
@@ -378,14 +378,18 @@ public class NativeXmlReader implements Closeable {
             // read the entity reference
             // we don't support these, so just handle them like a normal string
             String result = nextName();
-            if (buffer[pos] != ';') throw syntaxError("Missing ';' in entity reference");
-            pos++;
-            if (result.equals("apos")) return "'";
-            if (result.equals("quot")) return "\"";
-            if (result.equals("amp")) return "&";
-            if (result.equals("lt")) return "<";
-            if (result.equals("gt")) return ">";
-            return "&" + result + ";";
+            if (buffer[pos] != ';') {
+                if (!lenient) throw syntaxError("Missing ';' in entity reference");
+                return "&" + result;
+            } else {
+                pos++;
+                if (result.equals("apos")) return "'";
+                if (result.equals("quot")) return "\"";
+                if (result.equals("amp")) return "&";
+                if (result.equals("lt")) return "<";
+                if (result.equals("gt")) return ">";
+                return "&" + result + ";";
+            }
         }
     }