diff --git a/packages/fresh/src/runtime/client/reviver.ts b/packages/fresh/src/runtime/client/reviver.ts
index e852cd195d6..dda11e8aa4b 100644
--- a/packages/fresh/src/runtime/client/reviver.ts
+++ b/packages/fresh/src/runtime/client/reviver.ts
@@ -164,11 +164,34 @@ export function boot(
   for (let i = 0; i < ctx.roots.length; i++) {
     const root = ctx.roots[i];
 
+    if (root.end === null) continue;
+
+    // Check that the browser didn't reparent our markers due to
+    // invalid HTML nesting (e.g. <div> inside <p>). When this
+    // happens the start and end markers end up under different
+    // parents and hydration would fail with a DOMException.
+    if (root.start.parentNode !== root.end.parentNode) {
+      const label = root.kind === RootKind.Island
+        ? `island "${root.name}"`
+        : `partial "${root.name}"`;
+      // deno-lint-ignore no-console
+      console.error(
+        `Fresh hydration error: the ${label} has invalid HTML nesting. ` +
+          `Its start and end markers were reparented by the browser into ` +
+          `different DOM nodes. This is usually caused by placing a ` +
+          `block-level element (like <div>) inside an inline element ` +
+          `(like <p> or <span>). Check the HTML around this ${
+            root.kind === RootKind.Island ? "island" : "partial"
+          } for invalid nesting.`,
+      );
+      continue;
+    }
+
     const container = createRootFragment(
       // deno-lint-ignore no-explicit-any
       root.start.parentNode as any,
       root.start,
-      root.end!,
+      root.end,
     );
 
     if (root.kind === RootKind.Island) {
diff --git a/packages/fresh/tests/fixtures_islands/BlockIsland.tsx b/packages/fresh/tests/fixtures_islands/BlockIsland.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..46f0f5315ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/fresh/tests/fixtures_islands/BlockIsland.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function BlockIsland() {
+  return <div class="block-island">hydrated</div>;
+}
diff --git a/packages/fresh/tests/islands_test.tsx b/packages/fresh/tests/islands_test.tsx
index 3a364f36b8b..b5031df0d95 100644
--- a/packages/fresh/tests/islands_test.tsx
+++ b/packages/fresh/tests/islands_test.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { App, staticFiles } from "fresh";
+import { BlockIsland } from "./fixtures_islands/BlockIsland.tsx";
 import { Counter } from "./fixtures_islands/Counter.tsx";
 import { IslandInIsland } from "./fixtures_islands/IslandInIsland.tsx";
 import { JsonIsland } from "./fixtures_islands/JsonIsland.tsx";
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ import {
   ISLAND_GROUP_DIR,
   withBrowserApp,
 } from "./test_utils.tsx";
-import { parseHtml, waitForText } from "./test_utils.tsx";
+import { parseHtml, waitFor, waitForText } from "./test_utils.tsx";
 import { expect } from "@std/expect";
 import { JsxConditional } from "./fixtures_islands/JsxConditional.tsx";
 import { FnIsland } from "./fixtures_islands/FnIsland.tsx";
@@ -802,3 +803,47 @@ Deno.test({
     );
   },
 });
+
+Deno.test({
+  name: "islands - warns on invalid DOM nesting instead of crashing",
+  fn: async () => {
+    const app = testApp()
+      .get("/", (ctx) => {
+        return ctx.render(
+          <Doc>
+            <p>
+              <BlockIsland />
+            </p>
+            <div class="after-island">still here</div>
+          </Doc>,
+        );
+      });
+
+    await withBrowserApp(app, async (page, address) => {
+      const errors: string[] = [];
+      page.addEventListener(
+        "console",
+        (msg) => errors.push(msg.detail.text),
+      );
+
+      await page.goto(address, { waitUntil: "load" });
+
+      // Wait for the hydration error to be logged
+      await waitFor(() =>
+        errors.find((e) => e.includes("invalid HTML nesting"))
+      );
+
+      // Page should not crash — content after the island should remain
+      const afterIsland = await page.evaluate(() => {
+        return document.querySelector(".after-island")?.textContent;
+      });
+      expect(afterIsland).toEqual("still here");
+
+      // Verify the error message mentions the island name
+      const nestingError = errors.find((e) =>
+        e.includes("invalid HTML nesting")
+      );
+      expect(nestingError).toContain("BlockIsland");
+    });
+  },
+});